Our latest Track by Track comes from Manx blues guitarist and singer Davy Knowles with his new album ‘If I should Wander‘. While musically, it is a departure from the music he’s best known for; it’s also his most striking album to date.
A read of Davy Knowles‘ biography makes his new album ‘If I Should Wander‘ (out on 25th August – Pre-Order here) all the more enchanting. We’re maybe more used to seeing Knowles in the blues rock vein of his band Back Door Slam – plugged in and amplified rather than unplugged and acoustic. The man has performed with The Who, Jeff Beck, Gov’t Mule, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Bonamassa, Sonny Landreth, and Peter Frampton, among many others. Records he cut with his band Back Door Slam broke the top five on the Billboard blues chart repeatedly. He’s also the first musician in history to play live directly to the International Space Station.
Talking about the album, Knwles says, “This was such a far cry from the music I make my living playing. Why would anyone following my work in that arena want this? It took a very long time to understand a vital truth. It wasn’t written for them. This is a purely selfish endeavour. Meant only for me and those I hold close.”
It’s fair to consider If I Should Wander less an album and more a diary set to music. For the very first time in his career, the songs came flowing out – one after the other, and in the order they appear on the finished album. While this music is in a radically different style than anything Knowles had previously written, it comes straight from his creative centre- and his heart. “I couldn’t have been more honest or more open to my own thoughts and feelings at when I wrote these songs”, explains Knowles. “There was no hiding, no skirting around the subjects.” All of the songs for the album were completed within two months.
In keeping with the way these songs were written, and what they were written about, Knowles decided to record these at home, in his own little music room. Close, personal, intimate. More like a confessional than a recording. No frills, no trickery, and just one microphone. “I have owned the instrument I used to write and record this album (a 1932 National Triolian resonator) for 15 years, and have played it onstage all over the world, always in the Delta-Blues style this guitar is synonymous with,” says Knowles. “However, as soon as this music emerged from it, I felt like I finally had discovered what this instrument was truly for.”
After completing the record, Knowles waited. Whilst he never lost faith in the music, (it felt far too personal for that), he has lost faith in his direction. Yet, once he came to the realization that If I Should Wander is a piece of art created out of personal need, the idea of sending this music out into the big bad world didn’t seem quite as frightening a prospect. “Folks don’t like it? That’s OK. It’s not for them. This one is for you,” Knowles told himself. Yet, “there is a little hope of mine that maybe someone, somewhere, may see a little of themselves in one of these songs and perhaps not feel so alone.”
Track by Track
1. The Only Son. A song about guilt, about a feeling of failure and of letting down those most important to you. Misguided or otherwise.
2. Speak Softly, Tread Lightly. An open apology and explanation to my long-suffering wife.
3. Broken Time. The older I get, the more I feel time is speeding up. Sometimes I feel like I have the reins, more often not.
4. If I Should Wander. For my wife. To let her know it is she who keeps me right where I ought to be.
5. Don’t You Think So. The idea of someone knowing what is best for you without knowing you at all, superimposing their needs and wants on someone else.
6. Inside Of A Dream. A moment of clarity and light, a morning when the fog lifts and it feels like all will work out.
7. I Never Had The Heart. Self-doubt rears its ugly head. Am I cut out for this?
8. Dream Of Better Days. A song of being cooped up, and the frustration at having others influence your fate.
9. Just The Way The Light Shines. To my firstborn, Emmy. Pushing her luck and avoiding bedtime, whilst I secretly remember doing the same.
10. I’m A Stranger. Homesickness for the Isle Of Man, which I left at 19. Also questioning whether, after all this time, am I a stranger to my own homeland?
11. All In Good Time. Self-soothing. Whatever happens, it happens for a reason. After writing this song, I finally felt a natural conclusion to the record.
Pre-Order ‘If I Should Wander’ here: https://davyknowles.com/if-i-should-wander-presale