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Soul's
Engines
Andy
Volk, Writer
for Acoustic Guitar Magazine & Author of The
Lap Steel Guitar Book
Merriam-Webster’s
Dictionary defines soul as the animating and vital principle
in humans - an apt description for multi-instrumentalist
Dwight Mark’s musical journey through the universal
landscape of the human heart. His vibrant, richly textural
arrangements and soaring vocals describe a crossroads where
acoustic, folk, rock, and pop meet in songs that celebrate
the beauty of nature and the unbridled joy of the groove.
Dwight
performs on vintage Hawaiian lap steel guitars and mandolin
family instruments that have earned their dings, dents and
tonal majesty from the touch of generations of musicians.
Italian immigrants brought the mandolin with them to America
in the late 19th century. The mandolins of that era had
bowl-shaped backs, often adorned with intricately inlaid
decorative elements. Michigan luthier Orville Gibson
revolutionized the instrument by adapting the arched, carved
top and back of the violin to the mandolin. His radical
reimagining produced a mandolin design of unprecedented
tone, power and visual appeal.
By
the turn of the 20th century, amateur mandolin orchestras
could be found throughout America playing the popular music
of the day: college songs, marches, waltzes, sentimental
favorites and light classical music. Thanks to the legendary
Bill Monroe, the instrument became indelibly linked with
bluegrass despite its continued use in other musical genres.
Dwight’s mandolin was built in 1917 – the peak of the
mandolin craze. In contrast to the plaintive, melancholy
sound of the bowl back or the waterfall cascades of notes
characteristic of bluegrass mandolin, Dwight’s lithe,
muscular, playing on mandolin, mandola, and the Portuguese
guitarra, hums and chugs, turning the diminutive instrument
into a driving, folk-rock turbine.
At
the same time the mandolin was sweeping the country, a new
musical breeze was blowing from the territory of Hawaii. The
year-long 1915 International Panama Pacific Exposition first
introduced the Hawaiian steel guitar to the mainland United
States. The lilting, yet powerful sound caught the
public’s imagination and launched a thirty five-year love
affair with the music of the islands. Dwight’s lap style
guitars are named after their creator, Hermann C.
Weissenborn, a visionary German luthier who settled in Los
Angeles in the 1920s and set about creating what would become
the holy grail of acoustic Hawaiian guitars. Played by
sliding a steel bar along the strings, the Weissenborn
features a hollow neck, which enhances the astounding
dynamic range, and sustain of the instrument. Dwight adds
the poetry and groove that makes Hermann’s creation speak.
Dwight's
original "Island
Song" speaks to the importance of cherishing our shared
natural world and preserving it from extinction. The same
could be said of Dwight’s devotion to these antique
island-born instruments. Along with David Lindley, Ben
Harper and others, Dwight’s accomplished lap slide playing
reveals the beauty and surprising power of these instruments
in modern pop and rock.
If
a man is known by the company he keeps, Soul’s Engines
surrounds Dwight with good company indeed. The Subdudes’
Steve Amedee adds his trademark New Orleans-meets-Memphis
tambourine & percussion; Mollie O’Brien’s
blues-inflected vocal burnishes Warren Haynes’ Soulshine;
John Magnie’s accordion and Steve’s perfectly placed
percussion drive a razor sharp cover of Cream’s
Politician. On the twelve originals, the wash of textures
and the yearning sound of Dwight’s mandolin, steel guitar
and vocals cut right to the heart of the matter: the human
soul as the engine that drives us to live, love and create
art. Sit back, turn up the music and refuel your own
soul’s engine.
Soul’s
Engines
Review
by Dr. Dave Rodvold, MandoCentrics
Anyone who has listened to
Dwight Mark’s music knows that it is a window to his soul.
In Soul’s Engines, Dwight takes us on a tour of his hopes,
dreams, past, and future, much in the tradition of his
earlier album, Good Thing. Most of the songs on the new
album bring out a “Yeah, I’ve been there too” response
that leaves the listener feeling like they have just spent
an evening with an old friend.
The music that Dwight creates
is a solid mix of sage lyrics, artful composition, and
top-shelf instrumental support. In Soul’s Engines, he
comes across as equal parts Jimmy Buffet and Gregg Allman
– sometimes lyrical, often mournful, frequently growling.
Dwight mixes the soulful sound of his vintage Weissenborn
Hawaiian slide guitars with familiar timbre of his classic
Gibson mandolins, backed up with an ever-changing eclectic
ensemble of guitars, percussion, piano, accordion, bass, and
an array of other instruments. His moods range far and
wide on Soul’s Engines. From the upbeat advice in “Sometimes,”
to the melancholy nostalgia of “Ninety-Five Through
Nebraska,” to the tension-shedding “Wide Open Spaces,”
to the passionate “Substance of Fire,” Dwight plays on
the listener’s emotions. He lets us down easy though –
with the relaxing concluding guitar solo of “Cade’s
Cove.”
While the album is a solid
product throughout, a few songs rise above and really stir
the soul. “For Granted” is a marvelous blend of the
singing Weissenborn, the snarling electric mandola, Dwight’s
soulful voice at its best, and hit-home lyrics. “Politician”
– a cover of the old Cream tune – frames righteous
indignation with a mischievous zydeco touch. “Soul
Merynade” showcases the instrumental backbone of the album
with a stirring interplay between the Weissenborn and
mandolin worthy of Grisman & Co. on Tone Poems III. And
the startling vocal intercession of Mollie O’Brien on “Soulshine”
adds an edge that almost takes the breath away. Anyone who
likes to take life’s back roads owes it to themselves to
give Soul’s Engines a good long listen.
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Edge
of the Sea
Written by Dwight
Mark
Dwight
– Vocal, acoustic guitar & mini-tele slide guitar
Ross
Martin - Electric guitar
Rich Moore - Bass
John Magnie - Piano, organ & vocals
Steve Amedee - Drums, percussion & vocals
Cheryl & Andy Winston - Vocals
Download
EdgeoftheSea.mp3
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Politician
Written by Jack
Bruce and Pete Brown
Dwight
– Vocal, Weissenborn, mandola solo, mandolins, mandolas
& mandocello
Rich
Moore – Bass
Ross
Martin - Guitar
John
Magnie – Accordian
Steve
Amedee – Tambourine & percussion
Charlie
Provenza – End Mandolin Solo
Download
Politician.mp3
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