Indiana born, California
raised and now resident in Texas, Dirk Hamilton is one of the world’s
great songwriter poets.
A professional musician
since the age of 15, Dirk played with a number of local Sacramento
bands and was a regular in the San Francisco bay area club scene
before moving to Los Angeles in the mid-70s.
Having heard a few demo
tracks, Gary Katz (producer of all Steely Dan’s albums up and
including ‘Gaucho’) instantly decided to produce Dirk’s first
album ‘You can sing on the left or bark on the right’
Critically acclaimed,
with a unique writing and singing style, compared to Dylan and Van
Morrison, a powerful new songwriter had emerged on the music scene.
‘Alias i’, a second
album for ABC, saw a rising star continuing to share his left field
view of the world, at once tender, cynical and funny.
After ABC folded, Dirk
moved to Elektra Asylum for his 2 masterpieces ‘Meet Me at the
Crux’ (heralded by Rolling Stone as one of the essential albums of
the 70s) and ‘Thug of Love’. It was only a matter of time until
Dirk Hamilton would be established in the canon of rock’s revered
singer/songwriters. But it wasn’t to happen.
During a tour
supporting Warren Zevon, loose talk about Zevon’s stage act from
members of Dirk’s band got back to Zevon, who then had Hamilton’s
band thrown off the tour. Following this, Dirk was dropped by
Elektra.
Never being one to
enjoy the business side of playing music, losing industry support at
this key time in his ascent through the big leagues led Dirk to
decide he didn’t have the stomach to play the industry game
anymore. He turned his back on music entirely and didn’t sing, play
or write a word for about 4 years, one of which was spent sitting in
The Shamrock, a bar in Stockton, California and 3 of which he worked
as a counselor for troubled teens. Mid-way through Dirk’s counselor
years he began playing in a cover band and soon he found that new
songs were coming to him and he started writing again. In 1986 the
Stockton version of The Dirk Hamilton Band was formed and they played
up and down the California coast until the late 80s, when Dirk
discovered he had a devoted fan base in Italy and the last 20-plus
years have been split between Italian tours, US shows and recording
albums, which now total 16.
Dirk Hamilton grows
more powerful as a songwriter and performer of engaging, offbeat,
literate songs
May 12th in Topanga
Canyon saw the release party for of his first solo album.
For the first time,
after a long lifetime of making albums, Dirk Hamilton appears solo on
a studio record.
‘solo mono’
features only his guitar and voice and is a masterpiece.
You will not easily
find such passionate, witty, angry, funny, heartbreaking writing in
music today.
‘solo mono’ is
available as a cd and as a digital download on bandcamp.
Below is a live performance of 'Where are all the Rebels?' from 'solo mono' and some YouTube highlights of songs from previous albums:
http://youtu.be/nro9grY1_qA
Rich Man Blues (preceeded by interview)
