DAVE STEEL

BLUES & BALLADS Cat# SV0543

Blues and Ballads is Dave's eighth solo release. It is a deceptively simple solo outing with a large part of the material presented in solo mode-one instrument and vocal.

There are eight new Dave Steel songs which deal with the personal rather than the political, a general disenchantment with the world as it is (A Little Dream), reflections on parenthood(safe and Sound), lyrical contributions from his young daughter (Colour of the Wind), the fascination some people have for horses (Horse Trading Blues), suicide (Goodbye Traveller), human nature (Bound for Glory), and a moving tribute to his partner (Tiff's Song), are juxtaposed with versions of old songs from the blues tradition by artists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Sleepy John Estes, and Rev. Gary Davis.

Bassist Sandy Brady plays on four tracks and singer/songwriter Tiffany Eckhardt sings harmony vocal on three tracks, otherwise all the music is performed, recorded and mixed by Dave with some assistance in the mixing process by Welcome Wagon drummer and sound man John Parry (J.P.) Blues and Ballads was mastered by Barry Stockley at Phatsound in Melbourne and is distributed by Sound Vault.

Currently Dave works both solo and with his band the Welcome Wagon, whose last release was a CD of blues-based material titled 'Been On This Road Too Long'. He is still working as an instrumentalist with Tiffany Eckhardt, and Rory Ellis.
The release of 'Blues and Ballads' in December 2006 marks a welcome return to solo acoustic mode for Dave. The new CD includes eight new original songs and four versions of old songs from the blues tradition. 'Blues and Ballads' is a deceptively simple acoustic recording which amply displays Dave's instrumental and vocal talents and demonstrates the links between his own music and that of blues artists such as Rev. Gary Davis and Sleepy John Estes.

BEEN ON THIS ROAD TOO LONG Cat# SV0433

Dave Steel is a veteran of the Australian music scene. He spent four years as the guitarist with Weddings, Parties, Anything, seven years as Archie Roach's instrumentalist, has released seven solo albums, and been nominated for several ARIA awards. He has also worked with Cyndi Boste, Tiffany Eckhardt, Rory Ellis, Rose Bygrave, and Marcia Howard, amongst many others. Dave has spent much of his life traveling both in Australia and in Europe, Asia, and North America, both in his own right as a performer, and as a sideman. His last solo CD 'Home Is A Hard Thing To Find' was a final nominee in the 2002 Aria Awards for Best Blues and Roots Release. A song from that CD 'Weary Blues' was awarded Song of the Year by the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society.

Sandy Brady is a graduate of the Gordon Institute's Jazz Course. She plays both upright and electric bass, and has worked with an impressive array of artists, notably Tiffany Eckhardt, Cyndi Boste, Michael Thomas and the Sure Thing, Enda Kenny, and Broderick Smith. Sandy played bass on Dave Steel's 'Edge of the World' and 'Home is a Hard Thing to Find' CD's and has made numerous appearances with him on the festival and club circuit. She also currently plays with seminal South Coast band The Grizzly Brothers.

John Parry (J.P.) is known as the 'Charlie Watts of the south coast' for his laid back bluesy style of drumming. He has worked with many artists also, including Jeff Lang,
Matt Taylor, Bob Brozman, Chubby Rae and the Elevators, and the Mongolian Fishmongers. J.P. played on Dave Steel's 'Edge of the World' and is also working with The Grizzly Brothers.

Together Dave, Sandy and J.P. comprise The Welcome Wagon, a simple and basic three piece band performing 'anything they feel like' but mainly Dave's songs and blues-based material. In 2001 they recorded a live-in-the-studio CD called Goin' Up The Country', and have performed at Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, and The Melbourne International Blues Festival, as well as numerous club dates.

The Welcome Wagon has completed their new studio CD,titled 'Been on this Road Too Long', with guests such as Tony Hargreaves (The Whirling Furphies) on piano and accordion, Dave 'The Bastard' Keellings on harmonica, and Kelly Fleeton (Marco Goldsmith Trio) on backing vocals. The new CD includes blues standards like 'Rollin' and Tumblin'' and 'Back Door Man', older songs of Dave's like 'Out of Sight', some new songs of Dave's, and a couple of traditional country blues songs especially adapted for Australian conditions

Visit: www.davesteel.net
Contact: daves@ncable.net.au