Down The Line; Prayin’ Boy; Tango Blues Bar; Through The Day; I Like My Whiskey; Do Anything For You; Stumblin’ Blues; Leavin’; Gonna See My Baby; Rumble; Natalie’s Lullaby Blues; I Like My Whiskey

It’s wonderful to receive a CD for review from another NZ Blues Club and this one is a special treat partly because it’s from our newest club, the Poverty Bay Club in Gisborne and partly because it’s so good!

“Strummin’ Dog, real name, Dave Galanin, is an artist, a silver carver, who came to NZ from Alaska. That same creativity and cultural blending follows through to his music. All the songs are originals and cover a rootsy, blues part of the spectrum, played on beautiful guitars – a 1929 National Triolian Resonator and a Taylor. This is good gear!

“Prayin’ Boy” has slide on the steel resonator in a minor key and a big sound while Galanin intones sombre lyrics, a most powerful song. “Tango Blues Bar” reveals a wicked sense of humour as Galanin not only includes Tom Waites in the narrative but slips into a passable imitation as he does it – a cool song.

“Through the Day” is another big sound from a tuned down guitar and Galinin’s growling voice. “I Like Whiskey” is featured twice, one as a studio version the other, for some reason recorded outside, and is a love song – he likes his whiskey and cigarettes, staying at home and wants to be loved for who he is!

“Stumblin’ Blues” is a blues picked on the Taylor guitar and Galanin captures an authentic old time feel – it sounds as though it’s a lost blues from the 30s. “Leavin’ ” shows off some skilful picking from Galanin – and is another that sounds seventy years older than it really is. “Natalie’s Lullaby Blues”, is an instrumental which, we guess, is dedicated to a young Galanin.

This is a fine first album from Galanin. It is raw, original and authentically just his big guitar and big voice delivering fine original blues. It’s available form his shows or visit Galanin’s web site:
www.homeskilletrecords.com
or from iTunes or eMusic

Heres the link

http://www.blues.co.nz/features/article.php?id=275

Keep up the good work repping Homeskillet down under Strummin Dog!

Poverty Bay Blues Club Celebrates First Birthday

Gisborne’s blues club reports successful first year

We have had a great 1st year! People are there to see the blues and they haven’t been disappointed. It’s pleasing to see a crowd who are there to appreciate a style of music which really is a piece of history.

Keeping it a true blues night has been fun, We have had muso’s try and convince us that reggae, rock and R&B are ok but we have stuck to our ethos of only playing blues. This is not an open mike night!

By the latter months, our jam’s were really blues orientated
but with the likes of our first international act; from Wainui, Alaskan Dave Galanin, the ever entertaining Sam Lyle, along with big stompin’ Rich Alexander, we got through a great summer and even better winter with some real blues.
Link

Musicians have come from all over the Eastcoast to join in, and it’s thanks to all these guys and ladies for the year of great entertainment the rest of us have enjoyed!!

In May we bought Lil’ Ian Goodsman to town, to find that Friday night is a quiet for the blues in Gisborne, but the crowd that came enjoyed an intimate evening with the blues!

Sadly one of our founding bluesmen, Euan Fielder, died later that evening, but I truly can say he had been in his element that evening, the blues was everything for Euan. He gave his all at every jam he attended and every June PBBlues Jam, will be the Euan Fielder Memorial Jam Night, out of respect for our lost friend and it will be conducted in a style that Euan would have enjoyed!

Its been an awesome start to what we hope will be many more jams in the future with whomever has a hankering to play the blues!

Thanks to Adam and his crew @ the PBC and Luke from Mutant Frog Productions for their support and patience.

For our birthday celebrations we have invited some of the outstanding acts that we had enjoyed throughout the year. But as always I’m sure we will still get a few new acts coming out of the woodwork. So this is promising to be a very entertaining evening.

The Poverty Bay Blues is intending to charge a $5 cover charge in the future to allow us to maintain the equipment we use and purchase our own drum kit too. We will have (hopefully) a range of t-shirts for sale as well.

As always Jam Nite Rules Apply!

Darryn Clyne
PBBlues

Jed Delong has finished recording his long awaited Acoustic CD.
Little Stones Father is in the studio and will be releasing a debut album this winter.
Silver Jackson will be releasing his full length EP soon.
Homeskillet Records will be releasing a Hiphop Mixtape featuring new songs from Phonetic, Josh Boots, Koncept and more.
Lee Asnin is in the studio recording his solo album.
We are also already thinking about what to do or not do for next years Homeskillet Fest 2008…
We will be releasing last years entire festivities on DVD soon so watch for more information and youtube links.

I cant believe this summer is over (its over up here in the AK!)

Galanin started off in
a low-key manner, with
performances at the Poverty
Bay Blues Club where, club
founder Darryn Clyne said,
he “blew everyone away
with low-down Delta Blues,
his deep vocals intertwining
magically with his awesome
slide guitar”.
He then went on to play
a major benefit gig and this
week fills the support slot for
fellow bluesman Paul Ubana
Jones.
A silver carver by
profession, Galanin has been
playing guitar for nearly four
decades, seriously for the last
20 years. And in the past seven
years his passion has been
for the Delta blues based music, which
originated in Mississippi in the
beginning of last century.
But it is not just the
introspective lyrics and slidestyle
guitar that attracts him.
“I love that there is a story to it
all,” he said. “There is so much
history to this style of music.”
Today, he often uses the
Strummin’ Dog alias and,
though he does play a 1994
Gibson, his favourite guitar
is the 1929 National Triolian
steel body, single cone
resonator he bought some
eight years ago.
In the early days of his
passion, Galanin played
mostly covers of Delta Blues
greats like Robert Johnson,
Son House and Charley Patton,
in 2005 releasing Northland
Blues, an album of both covers
and his own originals.
His latest album, however,
is all his own work. Recorded
at Andy Kirk’s Tranquility Base
Recording studio, at Te Karaka,
A Sign of Light features a
dozen of his original songs.

Get it Now!

Strummin’ Dogs New Album “A Sign of Life” is here!

1. Down the Line
2. Prayin’ Boy
3. Tango Blues Bar
4. Through the Day
5. I like my Whiskey
6. Do Anything For You
7. Stumblin’ Blues
8. Leavin’
9. Gonna See my Baby
10. Rumble
11. Natalie’s Lullaby Blues
12. Extra Take: An 8 mic mix of “I like my whiskey”. Recorded outside on the deck at Tranquility Base Recordings using a Taylor acoustic

Galanin brings blues to benefit gig

by Kristine Walsh
Saturday, 27 January, 2007

IN Dave Galanin’s hometown of Sitka, Alaska it is -2 degrees Celsius – below freezing – while at his current home at Wainui Beach, just out of Gisborne, it is teetering at around 32 degrees.

But while Galanin is suffering in the heat, he is certainly not complaining. The native Alaskan says the climate is part of the reason behind his 17-year love affair with New Zealand.

A renowned silver carver, born into the Eagle Nest House of the Kogwaantaan Clan, Galanin first travelled to New Zealand in 1990. He returned as an international guest artist for the Te Ra Festival, held in Gisborne in 2000.

During 2003-04, he and his family spent 14 months living in the Bay of Islands region of New Zealand on a “working holiday” then, a year later, he hosted Napier-based Ngati Porou stone carver Stacy Gordine for New Zealand-Alaskan arts exchange.

Then, in May last year, Galanin, wife Margaret and nine-year-old daughter Natalie moved to Gisborne – leaving his adult son Nick in Alaska – after Margaret secured a two-year contract with the Ministry of Education.

Here, Galanin has continued his work, creating carved pieces in silver, gold, copper and jade in his Wainui workshop then shipping them to his dealer gallery back home.

But he has also been able to devote more time to another artform . . . playing and singing Delta blues.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Poverty Bay Blues Club gets off to a great start

Great to hear news of another blues club being formed in New Zealand. Gisborne resident and club founder, Darryn Clyne, filed this report:

We had our first night on Nov 7th, down in the fantastic venue, The Dome Room at the Poverty Bay Club, and we were well supported by local talent. Alaskan, Dave Galanin (AKA Strummin’ Dog), now Wainui local, blew everyone away with low down Delta Blues, his deep vocals intertwined magically with his awesome slide guitar, setting a massive standard for the following musicians. Keep an eye for his new cd, we’ll keep you posted. Long time local blues muso, Sam Lyle, gathered a group around him and kept the place rocking, with big Stomping Rich Alexander and ‘the Acoustic Assasin’ Daniel Walker, added their own styles and keeping us all howlin’ to the blues!

Read more here.

Watch for Strummin’ Dogs new Album “A Sign Of Life” it is fantastic!!! Coming soon, it’s at the press now!