ABOUT
Dan's storyPLUCKED while still a student to tour with Joan Armatrading, and championed by Neil Young on his ‘Living With War’ website, Dan Raza has spent the first chapter of his career weaving folk troubadour magic around the clubs and halls of the UK, America and Europe while quietly building a reputation as one of the UK’s best-kept musical secrets.
With two critically-acclaimed albums under his belt, the singer-songwriter, whose roots lie in folk, Americana and lyrical pop balladry, has won support along the way from some of the biggest names in folk music, such as Rodney Crowell (“great voice and fine arranging sensibilities”), Tom Paxton (“killer songs”) and John McCutcheon (“one of my favourite discoveries of recent years”), and has long been tipped for wider mainstream recognition.
Now with the release of his third LP – Wayfarer – that could happen. While the core elements of his music remain rooted in the troubadour tradition, the album’s eclectic mix of styles – ranging from soul, folk, blues, country, Tin Pan Alley, and Britpop – betoken a wider appeal. With shades of Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Roy Orbison and Bill Withers, Raza’s latest offering could well be the one to reach a mainstream audience.
The title of the record references the nomadic lifestyle Raza has found himself leading since leaving his long-term London base.
“After my last album, ‘Two’, came out (in 2017), I found myself feeling burnt-out and in need of a change of environment. I’d just come out of a long-term relationship, Brexit had just happened, and things were starting to feel quite claustrophobic for me in the UK.
“I just had a realisation that life is short and I’d spent the best part of a decade-and-a-half doing the same things and had become a bit jaded; I wanted to go new places, meet new people, and spend some time reflecting on where I was at the time and where I wanted to go next.”
Raza’s solution was book a flight to Tennessee, and begin a long period of touring around the US, Mexico and mainland Europe: “I could feel not only my heart opening again, but my eyes and ears, too. The time I spent away travelling and meditating on life and the people and stories I encountered inspired a whole suitcase-full of new material.”
The core of the 12 songs on ‘Wayfarer’ were written during this period, and he says capture “some of the things I was experiencing internally and externally at the time.
“I wrote ‘Only A Stones Throw Away‘ while in Tijuana, Mexico during the winter of 2018. At that time, hundreds of Central American migrants had converged on the border city to try and illegally cross and seek asylum in the US. My first afternoon there, I witnessed a father and child with all their belongings heavy on their back attempting the perilous act of wading into the ocean to try and squeeze themselves around the wall so they could set their feet on American soil.
“I remember looking up and observing the seagulls flying back and forth across the man-made border without restriction and thinking how seriously desperate someone must be that they would risk drowning because they felt this could be their best hope in life. I think the line that encapsulates the song is: ‘You only leave your home when you’re home won’t let you stay’.
The track ‘Newborn Man‘ captures a friendship Raza made with the artist, Tom Techman, in New York. “Tom was born with cerebral palsy and given up for adoption when he was born. When he told me his story, I knew I was looking at one of life’s great survivors and I thought that was something worth celebrating in song.”
Closer to home, the song ‘Water Reflects (What It’s Shown)’ gives voice to some of Raza’s concerns about the steady rise in political populism across the West. “We’re living through an age where snake oil salesman are flourishing on the political scene, peddling scapegoats and promising fake easy cures to deep problems – problems that they’re happy to exploit and make worse if they can profit from them. That worries me because we know where that can lead if enough people take them seriously (and empower them with their vote).”
The song features a more soul-inspired sound, drawing on the influence of artists such as the Staples Singers and Bobby Womack, of which Raza says: “This is the track I’m probably most proud of on the album, as I feel like it covers new ground for me musically and is a signpost to where I could go in the future.”
The album also has it’s lighter themes, too. ‘Nothing Like A Woman‘ captures the first bloom of love and the transformative effect a relationship can have on one’s life, surprising you into taking turns you never before dreamt of before. As Raza sings, “This is the country I was raised in, Never thought I’d leave behind, But there ain’t nothing like a woman to change your mind”.
Recording sessions for the album took place between 2021 and 2023. “We started recording during the pandemic and that was obviously tricky given the restrictions on people gathering, but the positive was that it gave me a bit of extra time to sculpt the tracks and also allowed me the opportunity take the tapes away and have friends in different places contribute.”
Once such friend who contributes from afar is North Carolina multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominee, Josh Goforth, who features on fiddle, mandolin and guitar.
“On stage now for a while it’s just been me and a guitar, but I knew some of these songs deserved fuller arrangements,” says Raza. “Part of the fun for me in going into the studio is having other musicians add their own musical voices and seeing how the songs expand as a result.”
The record also features a stellar cast of UK musicians including Adam Phillips on guitar (Richard Ashcroft), Geraint Watkins on keys (Van Morrison) and Luke Bullen (KT Tunstall) on drums.
In addition, the album also continues Raza’s long-term collaboration with members of Slim Chance, the band Ronnie Lane founded in the 1970s after leaving The Faces. Charlie Hart from the group produced Dan’s 2012 debut record and members of the band have appeared on every album since, including Steve Simpson and Frank Mead on Wayfarer. Raza says: “I’m so lucky to know these guys and have them join me on my records. They just bring an old-time soul and way of doing things that no-one else can replicate.”
The 12 tracks on ‘Wayfarer’ are delivered in Raza’s trademark husky soul-laden voice – which, at times, has been compared to singers such as Nick Drake, Mike Scott of the Waterboys and Ray LaMontagne.
As with its predecessor, Dan handles production duties, creating a warm sound that will appeal to fans of Jake Xerxes Fussell, The Decemberists and Neil Young/Van Morrison.
“It took a while getting here with the pandemic and everything else, but I’m so glad to finally be able to release these tracks into the world for others to hear. They’re a reflection of what this recent chapter in my life has looked like and hint at what’s coming next.
I feel like this has been a period of movement for me not only physically, but spiritually, too. And I think that can be heard in these songs.”
Wayfarer is released on Valve Records Feb 2025.
“Dan Raza is one of my favourite discoveries of recent years. His instinctive way of telling a story in his songs that is both personal and universal at once is what first caught my eye. Then his ability to do just the right guitar part, a seductive melody, and heart-filled delivery…well, you just don’t see it all come together so well very often. His songs have heart and teeth, my favourite combo.”
– John McCutcheon –
“Great voice and fine arranging sensibilities”
– Rodney Crowell –
‘The real deal’
– Huey Morgan, BBC Radio 2 –
“A writer who has matured into one of this country’s finest”
– Country Music Magazine –
“Killer songs”
-Tom Paxton –
“One of the more interesting and entertaining songwriters we have on our shores these days”
– Maverick Magazine –
‘Track of the Week’
– Classic Rock Magazine –
“An astonishingly accomplished set of songs, one of which a veteran songwriter would be proud.”
– R2 Magazine –
“An artist that makes you take note and listen to the songs.”
– Slaid Cleaves –
“A songwriter of exceptional talent.”
– Rachel Devine, Folk Radio UK –
“Stunning – our Album of the Week.”
– Ross MacFadyen, Celtic Music Radio –
“A great fusion of influences in his music, yet it all sounds very much his own vision.”
– Iain Anderson, BBC Scotland –
” A rising star to watch out for – extremely impressive.”
– Malcolm Galloway, Classical London and Arts Opinion –
“This guy really is something else – there’s something very beguiling about his music.”
– Brian Mullen, BBC Ulster –
“Outstanding quality roots-influenced mellow rock.”
– SW, Rock Society Magazine –
