Itchy feet, elegant fingers

Maurice Dickson's good year in the life

Maurice Dickson has been touring nine months a year for the past seven years, so you know he has to appreciate life on the road. But this creator of delicate, rootsy music has put the brakes on, convinced that now's the time to make a name for himself.

"Year in, year out, I really like it but when you're doing one thing, other things tend to suffer," he says in his soft Belfast lilt. "So when I decided to do this album I took some time off."

This album being A YEAR IN THE LIFE, a haunting collection of songs backed by Dickson's elegant finger-picking acoustic guitar style and, mostly several dreamy violins. There are more overtly country numbers, however, such as Spread Your Wings, when violins become fiddles alongside mandolin and harp. Incredibly it's Dickson's sixth album since 1992.

"I've toured Ireland a lot. Germany, Holland, Denmark and the northwest of America, and now the East Coast as well! And I've had a fair bit of airplay in Australia so I'm talking to promoters there," he says. "You come back, write some songs, book some gigs and then you're off again. I thought after seven years I really needed to do something different. but once I came off the road I really missed it!"

Dickson's music is an effortless blend of county, blues, bluegrass and mountain picking that's been honed by hundreds of shows. "Basically, all the time I've been playing music and writing music I've been travelling, so I've gotten involved in a lot of different styles over the last 20 years or so," he says. "I used to worry about it, the different styles coming out, but in the live shows, they seem to blend together. I'm still interested in any style of music. And what kind've mood I'm in depends on what style it's going to come out as. I'm already working on a new album and again it's a mixture of styles, there's some Latin and some Country direction."

"County surprises me because when I was a kid I used to really not like it at all. In my teens, I was more into rock music and my parents used to play country music a lot. And all of a sudden, 20 years later, it starts coming out so it must have got in somehow. Although the country I'm into would be, like, Guy Clark. I haven't gone back to the country that was played to me when I was a kid!"

So what Dickson's history? "It all started at school, forming a band at 15, doing covers. After six months, we started writing stuff, although I wouldn't want to listen to it now. I continued playing in rock bands too make a few quid and spent a lot of time in Spain and so got interested in a crossover between flamenco and jazz, and all sorts of music from contemporary folk - Dylan, Neil Young, all those sorts of things. I got into the guitar thing for a few years - John McLaughlin, Pat Matheny - until around 1991. After that I developed my own style. I have worked on my guitar playing but on the album there's only a bit of it, on The Road to Basra. Mainly it's a songwriter's album but live there would be more playing.' Does he travel as a solo performer? 'Sometimes, other times there's up to three musicians with me. In the last year, I've been doing a lot of work with Alan Cooper, the guy who plays the violin on the album. But all the songs work with just guitar and vocal."

Where was the album recorded? "I did some of it in Ireland, in a couple of nice places and got the basics together, then I brought it to a place near the Brecon Beacons," he says. "I was up there doing a festival and was looking for a studio and the people who owned it were away for a couple of months in the winter so I ended up getting a really good deal by taking it up for that time. A beautiful place about four miles from the nearest town, lake on one side, forest on the other. No musicians passing but I had a few come up. I re-recorded some of the stuff."

Having taken the time to create and promote A YEAR IN THE LIFE and even get going on his next record, Dickson is getting itchy feet. "Ill start touring again in June. Some gigs in England as well as Holland and Germany. I'd like to have most of the album finished by May. It's similar but maybe a bit rootsier, a bit sparser in the production. Guitar, double bass, cello and violin, that's the instruments I'm thinking of using."

Maurice Dickson is set to go places. and you can already hear the engine running. A YEAR IN THE LIFE is out now on Mo records. Nick Dalton