New Album from veteran Hank Wangford and Noel Dashwood (Britain’s finest dobro player) is “chock-full of charms” and “a wonderfully laid-back collection of charming, gentle – yet often poignant – songs that are illuminated ever-so-brightly by some of the best dobro playing that you’re ever likely to hear.”
Hank has picked at the miserable underbelly of country music for twenty eight years, inspiring others like Billy Bragg, The The, The Alabama Three and other alt.country musicians. He made UK’s first TV series on Country music (HW’s A-Z of C&W and Big Big Country).
Noël Dashwood is one third of Alden Patterson and Dashwood, a trio that has been making waves in recent years. His first, eponymous, solo album affords him the opportunity to demonstrate his talents, notably on Dobro and lap steel as well as a composer and song-writer.
Promises Promises Album Back Cover
There’s a tip of the hat to the great Bashful Brother Oswald, first giant of the dobro who fused Country and Hawaiian in his playing with Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys. We wanted a celebration of Americana and Country and the dobro and the huge influence of Hawaiian cowboy music on American popular music and Country. We hope you think we’ve done it; folks don’t realise how deeply Hawaiian music has moulded popular and Country music.
Hank & Dash
The Dobro
The dobro (pictured above) is a type of acoustic resonator guitar that has a metal cone in the center of the soundboard. The cone acts as a loudspeaker and produces a bright and powerful sound. The dobro guitar was invented in the 1920s by the Dopyera brothers, who wanted to create a louder guitar that could compete with other instruments. The name “dobro” comes from a contraction of “Dopyera brothers” and also means “good” in their native Slovak language.
Promises Promises
When asked how the album came about Hank said “I’ve been playing my Country style songs for half my lifetime with my bands The Lost Cowboys and the Wangford Big Bass Combo. I’ve recorded ten albums. In the last couple of years I’ve hooked up with Noel Dashwood – Dash – Britain’s finest dobro player (and singer/songwriter and harmony singer). So we’ve recorded a fistful of my songs old and new – and a favourite Conway Twitty cover – exploring the possibilities of working as a duo. And Promises Promises was born.”
Dash said the album was recorded live: “We recorded in the same room together with Hank singing lead and strumming his ol’ Gretsch or his baritone ukulele and me playing bass ukulele and singing harmonies”. Then Dash laid over his dobro and later some harmonica and Asher lap steel.
Out now on Soundcloud, Spotify, Vinyl and CD. Find more music from Hank at http://www.hankwangford.co.uk