Maurice Dickson - Minstrel With a Message

Each day several CDs turn up at the Music Maker office, which we listen to whilst putting the magazine together. Occasionally there's one that stops the work and silences the office babble and a CD entitled A Year in the Life of Maurice Dickson was one such Album. Was this Van Morrison or Rod Stewart in gentle mode with some great new tunes and superb backing I enquired? No it's Maurice Dickson. Maurice who? I had to find out more and a few telephone calls had soon located him at a friend's den in Cumbria where he actually admitted living out of his Camper van as he toured the clubs in the North of England and Scotland when not has his base in Devon.

Belfast born Maurice Dickson is an errant Irish minstrel with a peace message. Two of the most poignant tracks are Arabian influenced instrumentals on his latest CD. "The Road to Basra" (part 1 + part 2) is evidence of his commitment to peace in Iraq and on antiwar stance.

I asked Maurice how he had managed to survive; I will let him tell the story himself:

"I had been touring for nine months a year for seven years, every year things would get better but too slow I thought, so I felt I should try and change things. I never had the time or the money to promote myself, so I thought about it for a while and decided to make a big change and take a risk. I needed time off the road to make it work, I had enough songs for another CD, the last one was a live album and sold really well and still does but I wanted to a production so I could promote myself as a song writer, I also wanted to produce the songs in a way that would be true to myself and also have enough on there to make it acceptable for air play. I also wanted them to be heard by a wider audience, "Cold blows the Wind" on a personal level, I wanted it to reach more people. After more thought, I decided to re-mortgage my house to give me the capital I needed, I then bought some recording gear, moved into a nice place in the country and started work. I played all the instruments myself at that point and spent two months there I then went back home and did a good bit in my living room. I got Siobhan Skates in to do the backing vocals and I worked for about another month until I had most of what I needed. I moved out and rented the house to pay the loan. I had been offered a great deal in a studio in Wales so I took the lot over there and moved into the studio. Its in the middle of the Brecon Beacons and is four miles from the nearest house, so it was a perfect place to work and an absolutely beautiful place and area. I transferred the tracks onto Soundscape so I could use the full studio set up and started work again. I booked an arranger and a string section to add to the synth strings I had put down, Alan Cooper for some extra violin, and my friend Ian Briggs to play harmonica. Paula, the string arranger played double bass on Baby Blue, and I left the rest of the bass parts as I had recorded them in Ireland. I had the piano re-done by Steve, some extra percussion, Herb and Keith came and added their voices on two tracks and apart from 10-18 hours a day for two months mixing and re-recording three songs and writing two, it was all done! I got Adel to take some photos around the lake, Adel and her husband own the studio and Alan the violin player mucked around with one of the shots on the computer and came up with the cover. I then flew back to Ireland to do the artwork, as I wanted to use the same guys that did the last two CDs. Andrew put that all back together for me and I flew back to England - did a couple of re-mixes, and booked it in to a master two weeks later. My friend Ian Briggs offered me a place to stay with him and his wife Margaret until I get a new place; this had been planned from the beginning. Ian tours with me a fair bit and we have worked together for about 11 years and so that was a great help as I would have a place to stay until I get somewhere of my own again, so I moved down to Devon, all the gear again and all I own, in the van again!!"

He released "Land of Dreams" in 1992, "Where Eagles Fly" in 1994, "Country Pickin' Blues - Live" in 1996, "The Dreamer" in 1998, "The Jesters Dance - Live" in 2001, and now, in 2004 he releases his sixth album "A Year In The Life".

The new album was recorded in Wales in the middle of the Brecon Beacons four miles from the nearest house - an ideal place to work. As a singer songwriter, Maurice chooses the ground between folk and country yet has his own unique style which sometimes crosses over into the mainstream. Maurice has a great ear for melodies and his consummate guitar technique allows his songs to be presented in an open, honest, personable way, his music tugging at the emotions.

In support of the new album, "A Year In The Life", Maurice will be touring the UK in October and following that may be a date in London.