Miles To Go

MILES TO GO ALBUM - CRITIC REVIEWS - STEPHEN HALL

"Red House Blues" 99.3FM "Rhythm & Jazz" 2NSB:

David Hyams is one of the musicians that Tim Winton invited to contribute to the album that grew out of his recent book "Dirt Music". If you are wondering why this album is being reviewed by the presenter of a blues programme on a rhythm & jazz station, well read on!

David Hyams is a clearly a very talented multi-instrumentalist and composer. He has assembled a band made up of top shelf musicians from a range of backgrounds; you could almost call it a "Celtic Big Band"! Hyams is obviously deeply influenced by Celtic music, playing acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, Dobro, cittern and bodhran. He is wrote, produced and arranged of this; released on Dark Horse Records (see www.darkhorse.net.au). David Hyams has spent a lot of time in the North West of Australia and it obviously inspires his music.

"Miles To Go" begins with "Big Sky Country" featuring acoustic slide and electric guitar. "Watching The Wheels", is a smooth number featuring the pedal steel of Lucky Oceans. Album notes say it was inspired by "sitting at a level crossing watching the endless carriages of a ore train rumble past". The track "Fitzroy River Running" is my favorite and is inspired by the mighty Fitzroy River in the Kimberley. It features some breathtaking dobro work by Hyams.

I'm reliably informed that David Hyams is Australia's foremost composer of Celtic music. It would be shallow for jazz or blues aficionados to dismiss it by simply catergorising it as folk music. While it has its roots deeply planted in Celtic traditions, this is an album of fine Australian music that has a great degree of breadth. Personally, I have a sneaking suspicion that Hyams cut his teeth as a blues guitarist in an earlier life.