Dan Haywood - Dapple

by Jamie Rowland

published: 18 / 12 / 2013

Label: Southern Bird
Format: CD

intro

Minimal but confident traditional folk on debut album from Lancashire-based singer-songwriter and guitarist, Dan Haywood

Dan Haywood is a prolific songwriter best known for his ‘New Hawks’, a collection of songs and also a band with a formidable live reputation. He was also once the owner of one of Lancashire’s finest beards, but sadly he gave up that mighty bush a few years back. Happily, his skill as a singer-songwriter has not gone the way of his facial hair, as this new album deftly shows. ‘Dapple’ is a collection of ten folk songs, refreshingly traditional in style. Recorded in various places around Bowland Wood, the softly-played acoustic guitar and vocals are backed up by birdsong and the breeze through the leaves. The result is almost meditational; you can sit back, close your eyes and get totally lost in Haywood’s sweet songs. It almost paints a picture of walking through a serene forest and happening upon a minstrel in a leafy clearing. If that sounds awfully twee, then I’m doing the album a disservice. This is confident, mature songwriting, delivered simply and with minimal production (or at least with enough skill that it seems minimal). The album’s power comes from its purity – a man, his guitar, and Mother Nature, together in song.

Track Listing:-

1 The Apple Tree
2 A Trout
3 A Floral Dance
4 Dapple
5 I've Got Heaven At My Door
6 Suspicious Farms
7 In the Willows
8 A Floral Dance (Reprise)
9 Lapping Wave
10 Made for the May