ARTIST'S DEBUT ALBUM ACCOLADES

"Dedications & Dreams" is the artist's brand new follow-up album to his eponymous debut "DUSK" which has already garnered repeat airplay, awards, and praise on three continents.

The "DUSK" CD album has had 3 of its songs included on 4 compilation/tribute CDs to date, and one of these tunes was the lead song for "Americana in Paris" in its "Best of 2002" program.

"DUSK" was Featured Album of the Week for the highly regarded "Sisyphus Tracks" out of Nashville, and the artist's singing voice was praised by Songwriting Hall of Fame artist Mickey Newbury as being finer yet than that of Newbury's lifelong friend Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio.

Music from "DUSK" and/or features about the disc have been broadcast four times over the statewide network of Georgia Public Radio. 

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THE NEW RELEASE

"Dedications & Dreams" is poised to surpass the successes of Dusk's debut album. Whereas his debut CD includes 14 excellent guest musicians in an engaging mix of styles that spotlight Dusk's upbeat humor, his new disc features no fewer than 20 supporting musicians in an even broader range of styles and a colorful palette of moods.

"Dedications & Dreams" also contains a well-produced music video of his song "The Sunlight of Your Smile," and the album runs 12 minutes longer than its predecessor, offering one full hour of memorable entertainment.

The new album's infectious fun on the songs "Good Biscuit, Bad Biscuit" "Sleep with Her" "Tele(phony)" and especially "Alltel Sucks!" is rounded out by the exquisitely poetic "Quicksilver Daydreams of Maria," the soulfully moving "Indian Wars," and the gallantly romantic "When Winter Storms." Other songs therein evoke a strong sense of yesteryear (Coming Back to You), spiritual earnestness (Entelechy), wry reflection (Christopher's Raga), and marriage between the everyday and the erudite (Day Done Done).

Instrumentation on the album is as creative as it is varied. Dusk and keyboardist Tom McMillan personally hauled Tom's Hammond B3 organ and Leslie cabinet into Sundisc Recording Studio in Flagstaff (the CD was recorded on twin Yamaha AW4416s in Arizona and Atlanta studios) for inclusion on five of the twelve songs. Other interesting instruments used on the album include Chorded Zither, Accordion, cross harp Harmonica, Bodhran, Clarinet, Native American Flute, alto and soprano Saxophones, Euphonium, synth Guitar, Trumpet, and a fretless 5-string hollow bodied Bass. These are joined by a complement of more typical Americana instrumentation by way of acoustic guitars, mandolin, drums, percussion, fretted basses (all splendidly played by Rich Neville, 10-year bassist with the classic rock band POCO), keyboards, and pedal steel guitar.

The overall experience of "Dedications & Dreams" is akin to touring a brightly-lit cultural cyclorama, for it is surely a multimedia stage production, one so natural that it begs the question why more roots artists have not already emulated Dusk's approach. Here, Dusk the Southern Storyteller shines with the well-placed sound effect, the soliloquy, the impromptu aside, the theatrical pause, the call and response of protagonist and chorus, as he directs segue of one element into another.

But make no mistake about it: Music is paramount here, and Dusk's fine singing voice unites all the elements into a thoroughly enjoyable and cohesive presentation that is at once both personal and universal.

When you've heard "Dedications & Dreams" start to finish, you will likely feel that you have experienced a shared event, a happening, rather than some string of interesting-but-isolated songs, one after the other. This album may well be seen as a work of art; it is obviously a well rendered labor of love; and it is clearly given to us by one very dedicated dreamer.