GIGS THIS WEEK – LONDON AND GERMANY

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Back on the road: this week I’m excited to be heading back to Germany for the Worms Jazz And Joy Festival with my friends the ‘Country Cousins’. We have 2 shows lined up on the Thursday and Friday.

https://www.jazzandjoy.de/jazz-and-joy/index.php


 

Before then, I’ll be returning to the lovely Wanstead Tap, in East London, for a mini album launch. Free entry and some other great acts playing.

http://www.thewansteadtap.com


See ya there – album out 7/7/17 x

ALBUM RELEASE DATE – 7/7/2017

The new album will soon be available to hear!

Links for purchase and streaming will be shared here soon. In the meantime, keep an eye on the Facebook page for further updates:

https://www.facebook.com/DanRazaAndTheShrouds/

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MARCH 2017 CONCERT – ANNOUNCED

Happy New Year everyone! 

I am taking the first part of 2017 quietly to prepare for the release of ‘Two’ and to work on my writing and playing.

I do have one concert to announce, though, in St. Albans at the Maltings on the 3rd March.

This is the web link: http://www.maltingsartstheatre.co.uk/events-folk-dan-raza-danny-pedler-and-rosie-butler-hall-and-saul-bailey-186

The new record will be out officially in early Spring and I will soon have more info on that and where it can be purchased from on-line.

In the meantime, thanks for checking in and I’ll be back with more news very soon : )

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FIRST REVIEW OF THE NEW ALBUM!

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I’m very happy to have received the first review of my recently finished second album from the highly regarded Hooked on Music website in Germany.

Here is the link and, for those who can’t understand German, the English translation below, courtesy of my friends Rene and Gudi Bee.

A big thanks to Frank Ipach for the kind words.


https://www.hooked-on-music.de/review/dan-raza-two/12199


“Although the spirit of the long-dead British melancholic Nick Drake is running through Dan Raza’s body and is instrumental in the folk and roots singer-songwriter art of the young guitarist and singer. The early 30-year-old Mr. Raza was much stronger, more determined than the very introverted Nick Drake, who had finally disappeared in November 1974 under unexplained circumstances.

Whoever wants to make a half-sounding name in the Folk & Roots segment in the overpopulated Music-Biz, must not only have great talent, a sympathetic or extremely distinctive voice, an appealing appearance and gripping songs, but above all lots of luck in the right place at the right time. The old saying is true again and again.

Dan Raza, who has been driving the slow, hard road to the top through British and European clubs and pubs for over a decade, brings all of the above attributes with him, and he goes unchecked to the recognition he deserves.

Great names like Neil Young have already noted his extraordinary talent. Raza opened concerts for established artists such as Joan Armatrading, Mary Gauthier, Slaid Cleaves, and Badly Drawn Boy. With his debut album, which was produced by Charlie Hart (Ronnie Lane, Ian Dury, Eric Clapton) from 2012, Raza nevertheless had enough effect to keep him on track.

This is good and praiseworthy, because otherwise his fans and those who want to be will not be able to enjoy his second album again equipped with exquisite musicians. If you like musicians like keyboard player Geraint Watkins, Pedal Steeler BJ Cole and flutist Frank Mead, to name only the most illustrious, you should be sure to have put your songs in folk-experienced and competent hands.

Raza’s “Two” titled work captivates by mature craftsmanship, Dan’s soft and pleasant tenor voice and his predominantly acoustic orientation,
along with folkloristic instrumentation such as flute, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo and accordion. Razas songs develop their lovely and rural inspired charm mostly at second and third listening. Classics like “Midnight And The Wine,” which sounds like a random meeting of Gram Parsons and Ryan Adams, or a sentimental affecting song like “Still Can not Believe That You’re Gone,” is the voice of Nick Drake’s tears With Paul Simon’s constancy, more sustained in the ears than expected.

Cheerful song gems like “Do not Shoot The Stars Down” or the sentimental “Old Ways” for example bring to mind Van Morrison’s intense down-to-earthness. The irresistibly joyous “Drifting” and “Payday”, inspired by Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 spirit, could have made into one of the stage hits of the Irish Hothouse Flowers in the late eighties.

The sympathic and undaunted songwriter Dan Raza presents with “Two” again a promising and gratifyingly mature work, which dares to defy the superficiality and hypocrisy of today’s music-biz and put on profound song-art, which many Folk & Roots fans should like. Dan and his band fulfill the high quality requirements. And even if this does not always seem to be sufficient today, the fresh blood of the unyielding artist still flows in Raza and mixes with the spirits of the past.”

FINAL CONCERTS OF 2016!

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(photo by René Geilenkirchen)

I’m back home now in London after a great tour in Germany. The reception and hospitality I received was absolutely amazing – thank you so much to everybody who came to the concerts out there and my special trio of tour managers (Gudi, Rene, and Bine). I really hope I can come back again in the near future! : )

I have 3 final UK concerts scheduled for between now and Christmas. On 10 November, I’ll be teaming up with an old friend of mine, Stew Simpson, and his folk-rock supergroup, Hadrian’s Union, in Wanstead, East London.

The following week, I will be supporting pub rock legends, Juice on the Loose, who are reforming for 2 special concerts and feature the stella talents of Charlie Hart, Geraint Watkins, Ed Deane and Les Morgan, all of whom featured on my past records. I’ll be playing with them in Lewisham, South London on 20 November.

My final concert will be up in Manchester with my friends, the fantastic Lonesome Penniless Cowboys on the 16 December. All details are up on the gigs section of this website.

For everybody who asked about my recently finished 2nd album, thank you – I will have copies with me for sale at these upcoming concerts and will be putting it up on the Bandcamp website to coincide with it’s official release early 2017.

Finally, today is Walter Hyatt’s birthday, so I would like to share with you the music of one of my favourite artists. Happy Birthday, Walter!

 

See you all soon x

GERMAN TOUR – STARTING NEXT WEEK!

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I’m so looking forward to heading back to Germany next week and playing some concerts. I’ll be returning to some of the lovely venues I visited 2 years ago and also playing lots of new places – it’s going to be great!

I love German audiences and the respect and appreciation they have for live music – it’s one of my favourite places in the world to play.

I’m lucky be joined on my travels by my good friend and tour manager, Gudi B! We will be rocking up and down the autobahn in her special ‘blues mobile’ so make sure you honk if you see us!

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Also, I will have a limited edition new cd available with me (more about that Friday) and am looking forward to performing a mix of new songs from it and old ones, too. If you have any special song requests, don’t be shy to ask!

I hope to see some friendly old faces again and make some great new acquaintances, too, this time around – see you very soon!