BRUCE DALZELL - music
>>> cds >>>

Bruce's debut CD, The Sound of One Fan Clapping:

Track Listing
01 Local Boys
02 I Am Alive (Song For Carlotta)
03 The Girl From Pike County
04 Grady’s Rag
05 The Parade
06 Standing Here With You
07 The Light Around You
08 Small Town Affair
09 The County Fair
10 The Only Corina Waltz
11 On Becoming An Adult
12 Completion
13 Tocoi Light
14 Corina’s Little Finger

$15 (plus shipping)

Bruce's second CD, Do It Yerself:

Track Listing
01 Lookin Away
02 Avery’s Lament
03 Riding On A Train
04 I Am Lifted Up
05 Don’t Tease Me Margaret
06 When My Love Is Far Away
07 Sneakin A Kiss
08 Stepping Softly
09 Samba De Susannah
10 The Sweet Anxeity of ...
11 The Parting
12 My Monkey
13 My Neighborhood
14 The Melancholy Bride
15 No Answers
16 Travelogue

$12 (plus shipping)

Track Listing
01 Angels We Have Heard On ...
02 The Soul's Tonic
03 The Coventry Carol
04 Baby Grand
05 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
06 The Cherry Tree Carol
07 Pere Noel Vient A La Ville
08 The Christmas Song
09 Bring The Torch, Jeanette ...
10 Christmas In Prison
11 Hark The Hearld Angels Sing

Out of print - Email to inquire about CD-R copies of
Brucie's Christmas

Track Listing
01 Birdman
02 Mark Knopfler's Blues
03 The Morning Turn
04 Birddog and the Cooper Kettle
05 One Hundred Years of Sorrow
06 The Carbondale Waltz
07 The Storyteller
08 Falling Trees
09 One More Beginning

$12 (plus shipping)

>>> honoring Athens' singer/songwriters >>>
BRUCIE'S ATHENS S/S SERIES

>>> mp3s >>>

ORIGINALS
Local Boys
My Neighborhood
Tocoi Light (with Gay Dalzell)
Standing Here With You

COVERS
Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen)
I Wanna See The Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson)
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (Simon and Garfunke)l
Hey Jealousy (Gin Blossoms)

>>>>> reviews >>>>>

Bruce Dalzell scores with 'Fan' album
The Athens Insider (12/25/2002), by Troy Gregorino

Many of Athens' otherwise thriving music venues have come to match the quiet winter break atmosphere of the nearly deserted streets. Once the masses of students return, the Front Room will resume its legendary Friday night open stage. The man who runs the show there (as well as the Bunch of Grapes Wednesday night open stage) is the equally legendary Bruce Dalzell.

Given the decrease in local live performances of late,and considering Athens' substantial transient population (much of which was not around for Dalzell's 1998 release of "The Sound of One Fan Clapping"), I thought I'd give my take on that CD this week. It's a recording that can provide a nice appetizer for the resumed musical inundation that so many of us so eagerly anticipate.

"The Sound of One Fan Clapping" is for listeners who still have a place for sensitivity and honesty in music. Track after track offers Bruce's characteristic celebration of life, love, time and place. His strong suits are very clearly in his remarkable writing and musical arrangement (not to mention his more than adequate guitar techniques needed for pulling off those arrangements). They're the kind of songs the contents of which James Taylor would be proud, or envious. Many of Bruce's pieces would read nearly as well in the form as stories as they sound when put to music.

In "The Girl From Pike County," he sings:
The air is clear up around Bluefield, the highway quiet and fast/ I'm running down through West Virginia, breaking free at last/ She came up fast in my rear view mirror, came screaming right by me/ Her license plate made it clear she come down from Pike County/ Blonde hair flashing and two kids behind, but I knew it must be her/ who long ago did somehow find something good beneath my anger and my beer/ I pledged my drunk and undying love, she stayed one night with me/ Come the dawn she was on that bus, wisely going home to Pike County.

Aside from his intriguing lyrics, Bruce's appealing grasp of melody sets him apart from other performers of a similar story-telling style. His guitar is always in the same mood as his voice. In two different languages, they talk to us together through glimpses of sentimental, sometimes bittersweet, memories. Each story ends in a place worth revisiting.

Bruce's embrace of people's importance in his life translates as some of his strongest work. Two of the most moving pieces on the CD are "I Am Alive" (Song For Carlotta) and "The Only Corina Waltz." In a touching tribute to his daughter, Bruce begins with: "Only Corina, posing just so / The arch of eyebrow to the point of a toe / The soft glow above her, the shadow below / Only Corina, posing just so." Showing some of his endearing versatility, Bruce included on the CD a song called "Tocoi Light," which chronicles the role of women organizing unions in Appalachian mines and mill towns.

For whatever reason, I think Bruce actually tends to sound even better (vocally) live than on his recording. Nevertheless, "The Sound of One Fan Clapping" should be included in the collection of anyone who takes good folk music seriously. Soon, we'll be back to hearing Bruce and the endless line-ups he introduces on a more than weekly basis. Until then, if you don't have it, go get the CD.

'Do It Yerself' is undoubtedly Dalzell
The Athens Insider (04/09/2003), by Troy Gregorino

Bruce Dalzell is so much of a staple in the Athens music scene that anything released by him deserves a listen. His most recent release, "Do It Yerself," is no exception.

The album is proof that the familiar long-time host of open-stage nights at Baker Center still makes plenty of time for his own music. These are not the kind of songs that come with sheets of tablature to be learned in a day for the campfire. Packed with 17 tracks, "Do It Yerself" is vintage Dalzell.

Stunningly intricate guitar work weaves its way through gentle vocals. Melody walks with harmony - holding hands, lamenting, playing, weeping, celebrating. These are songs for those who live close to the heart. Dalzell's music feels somehow exempt from trends and timeliness. His songs are to music what denim is to fashion.

"Do It Yerself" speaks to the human condition, finding and embracing faults. It's documentation of an artist's life fully lived. There's a certain sensibility to Dalzell's work. Musically complex, his songs maintain a simple lightness and even traces of the self-effacing humor reflective of the writer's demeanor. True to the folk tradition, "Do It Yerself" manages to succeed in blending such whimsy with poignant bittersweetness. (Two tracks away from "My Monkey" is "The Melancholy Bride.")

Highlights include "I Am Lifted Up," "Stepping Softly," "Samba de Susannah" (a two-minute instrumental), "No Answers," and "Travelogue." This recording truly is Dalzell at his best (for now). For a veteran, it seems that he keeps finding ways to improve on his previous efforts. Just when I thought he must be about out of awe-inspiring licks for his guitar, Dalzell gives us "Do It Yerself." It's an album that's as refreshing for its innovation as it is for its adherence to the qualities that make it the work of Bruce Dalzell.

Dalzell's new CD offers holiday cheer
The Athens Insider (12/16/2003), by Troy Gregorino

On his latest CD, “Brucie’s Christmas,” Bruce Dalzell offers both traditional songs and originals for a collection that ranges from folksy humor ballads to striking instrumentals.

It’s an album that lacks polish (to its credit) and rings with a down-home flare. There’s a certain charm to the less-than-perfect takes, offset nicely by some downright stunning precision on other tracks.

In terms of showcasing the breadth of his versatility, “Brucie’s Christmas” is as good as anything Dalzell has ever recorded. Many of the tracks are of a more country bent than most of Dalzell’s more familiar material. Others are elaborate, classical compositions.

Particularly impressive are “Baby Grand” as well as the remarkably Dalzell-flavored instrumental takes on “Angels We Have Heard On High” and “Hark The Herald Angels Sing.” Also endearing to the album is the inclusion of vocals by Bruce’s wife, Gay, and daughter, Corina, on “The Christmas Song.”

The album is definitely at its best when the guitar takes over, unleashed to sing harmonies with itself. There’s no mistaking Dalzell’s trademark arrangements and sincere delivery.

“Brucie’s Christmas” is another example of how Dalzell possesses the rare ability to adapt to various styles without losing any of his identifiable uniqueness, and without resorting to mimicry. If you like Bruce, you like “Brucie’s Christmas.” Dalzell is the perfect artist for a project of such warmth and tenderness. While it’s not, over all, Dalzell’s best recorded work, “Brucie’s Christmas” is a necessary addition for anyone interested in compiling a “best of Athens” collection. This is a CD that offers all the good-natured merriment, sensitivity, and superb guitar work that’s come to be expected of Bruce Dalzell.

Spotlight on local musicians grows brighter with new releases
The Athens Insider (11/17/2005), by Brooke Williams

if you thought the singer-songwriter compilations Bruce Dalzell has been producing, engineering and releasing were the only irons he has in the fire, then you’ve clearly never met him.

Recently, Dalzell somehow found time to score an original motion picture soundtrack. While it’s no international blockbuster, “A Forest Returns” from Ohio Landscape Productions has already garnered awards at the Appalachian Film Festival as well as the MontanaCINE International Film Festival.

The film tells the tale of the Wayne National Forest, located right here in southern Ohio. The tale, narrated by Athens’ Ora E. Anderson, is scored by Dalzell’s nine tracks (five of them instrumental themes), performed masterfully but subtly, as is his way.

The pieces are largely acoustic guitar- and banjo-driven, and laze along with all the quiet lonesomeness of a great forest. Further instrumentation is sparse, but intentionally so, and adds to the richness of the arrangements when present.

The two non-instrumental songs are quiet and simple, and demand to be taken in on an early morning drive with warm coffee and new winter sunshine. “The Morning Turn” in particular makes seeking out this some what rare CD worthwhile. To order a copy, visit brucedalzell.com