'Live ... In Dinky Town' in Michael's own words;
A few months ago my son came to stay and brought with him a video of a
Bob Dylan documentary that he'd recorded from the discovery Channel. In
the same way that all those Beatles documentaries start with a grainy
black and white shot of the River Mersey and the Liverpool Docks, this
started with with some old footage of Hibbing, Minnesota from the late
40's/early 50's, aiming to give us some form of idea of the streets that
the young Robert Zimmerman used to walk. As the film flickered and sped
up the cars and the people seemed to be from a bygone era.
The narrator's booming voice told the story of this dull little town and
how Dylan's parents had moved there so that Abe, Dylan's father, could
join his brothers in their furniture and appliance business. He also told
of an area called Dinky Town ... the bohemian quarter of Hibbing, where
the teenage Bob would go and hang out, fascinated by the varied and outrageous
characters that frequented that part of town ... musicians, actors, drunks,
prostitutes, pushers and peddlers, the down and outs, the dreamers and
the damaged. Hibbing may have been dull but down in Dinky Town it was
a different story. Now, I have never been to "Bobs" Dinky Town,
I've never been to Hibbing, Minnesota but as I have zig-zagged my way
across Europe and parts of America I have come across many "Dinky
Towns". I've performed in them, got lost in them, got drunk in them,
even got thrown out of one or two of the ... and all the songs on this
album were recorded in them. This is a collection of live songs from various
acoustic gigs and radio shows recorded over the past five years, the majority
in small clubs and studios. All these songs started life on an acoustic
guitar, and, for this album, and for the hundreds of solo shows I have
played in that time, they have gone back to it. My own inadequacies are
here for all to see and I am grateful to the other musicians who help
cover them up, but this album is a sparse affair and we all have to stand
naked at sometime or other. Thanks for listening, I'll see you soon ...
"coming to a Dinky Town near you"
MWK
Line-up
Michael Weston King guitars, vocals with Phil Abram on # 1 & 7 Jackie
Leven and Andy White on # 11 Dave Lowe on # 13 & 14
Biography
As lead singer / songwriter with Britain's premier "Alt. Country"
band, The Good Sons, Michael Weston King has single-handedly done more
to promote the genre in the U.K. than any other artist. The band were
the first British band to sign to Glitterhouse Records for whom they have
recorded three critically acclaimed albums. They then followed this up
by becoming the first British band to sign to Austin label, Watermelon
Records. However, the bands ascendancy was cut dead in it's tracks when
the latter half of '98 turned into something of a nightmare. A near fatal
car crash while on tour in Germany left Michael in hospital and the bands
equipment in pieces. A mixture of fines and missed gigs left the bands
finances similarly in ruins (they had to borrow equipment for their appearance
at the Glastonbury festival). Added to this, Phil Abram, the bands mercurial
guitarist, chose to re-locate to Italy, their U.S. record company filed
for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the band's management (whom they shared with
Nick Cave) decided to up-sticks, and, more poignantly, Michael's 11 year
marriage ended. As the year drew to a close he found himself in Geneva
at Christmas, trying to come to terms with the events of the past six
months, and doing so the only way he knew possible ... through his songs.
Out of such adversity usually comes creativity and by the end of January
he was back in the studio with just a pianist and celloist for company,
recording what would become his debut solo album ... "God Shaped
Hole". Not surprisingly the material drew heavily on the past years
experience, particularly his marriage break up. It also included a specially
written homage to Townes Van Zandt written in Austin, Texas, whilst watching
a video of the great man's funeral. As well as eight new songs the album
also featured Michael's interpretations of a couple of songs by two of
his influences. No More Songs by Phil Ochs and Annie by Ronnie Lane. Released
in 1999 the album found immediate favour with the critics, An intense,
dark piece of work, the songs sparse arrangements and the somber mood
of the cello perfectly heightening the poignancy of the lyrics. After
18 months of solo performances, all over Europe, Michael reconvened the
Good Sons in April 2000 for a short U.K. tour and by July they had a new
record deal and were in the studio recording what would become their fourth
album, "Happiness" Despite featuring pedal steel it is the least
"country" sounding record the band has made, harking back to
the more English song writing pop style of Michael first great influence,
Elvis Costello. The album also has traces of the swampy blues of Daniel
Lanois or J.J.Cale, the acoustic singer songwriter style of Neil Young
and Townes van Zandt, and the darker cello hued introspection of Tim Hardin.
Discography (excerpt):
- "Live ... In Dinky Town" (Twah! 121)