Dan Tuffy, musician, producer.

The new record COUNTRY STAR came out on 2 June and gigs are planned for July & August in Australia, and for the fall in Europe (tickets in link!). There has also been attention in the music press like the story below from Music Maker in The Netherlands. They wrote that it was a “beautiful organic sounding” record. The title translates roughly to “Rough Textured Alt-Country via Black & White TV tubes”. The Dutch language is all about precision and exactness. Clearly, I overdid when I was asked me about my gear. I told them all about my new-old stock 1957 General Electric television vacuum tubes that currently occupy my main guitar amp – for a long time. They ran with it.

Then there’s this: by the time an album comes out I’ve heard it so often that I’m ready to move on. I’m rehearsing for my upcoming shows at the moment and I should be going over the stuff thats just come out or other things I want to play live, but I find myself mucking about on some new riff, groove or song fragment instead. Is this a problem? I will no doubt find out the next time I walk onto a stage in front of you. Meanwhile, if you havent had a listen to COUNTRY STAR already, wrap your listening gear around this and wish me well!

As restrictions lift and strange little social distancing gigs begin to loom on the horizon I find myself feeling a mixture of indifference and trepidation. Ive done 1 or 2 social distancing shows, as well as a couple of online streaming gigs – they were cool I suppose but they also felt a bit like 2% milk, and reminded me of how great it actually is to play to a properly filled room to real flesh and blood people. I miss that. The trepidation comes from the thought that this could go on for a long time yet. The challenge is to adjust to this new reality. Im doing the best I can under the circumstances – everyone is. In the meantime, I count myself among the lucky souls who hasnt yet lost anybody (touch wood!) and who lives in a country where people actually have space in their blessed and privelidged lives to even contemplate music, art etc let alone create it. You gotta stop and think about that sometimes. It put things into perspective. In the meantime, here is a cool little video of a song of mine with footage of my daughter growing up in these times.

In March before Covid hit I was looking at a great run of shows in the Netherlands, bookings were coming in for Germany and the UK too. Australian dates were lining up easy-peasy in July/August –  it was coming together like a dream. Believe me, you dont get that happening so easily too many times in your music career if you work on the fringes of the bizz like I do. It all looked so good. Then BOOM! The whole lot came crashing down with the virus. It was a lot to let go of. Still is. And of course, you try to make it feel better by saying stuff to yourself like “oh well there are people worse off than me”. That kind of helps but it doesnt change the reality of 18 months work down the drain. I decided back then not to delay the release because of Covid – fuck that! Im glad I didnt – it was a decsion that has led to some great reviews, and now things are opening up ever so tentatively, some great new show opportunities as well. It has also given me space to re-orient somewhat to the ever-expanding digital context that is consuming all of us whether we like it or not, and that I have been resisting like the plague. All the energy I had for taking this show out on the road needed a target. STORY SONGTIME WITH DAN has relieved me of some of the frustrated creative pressure Ive been feeling building up inside me. These kind press review quotes have helped too

“warmth, wit, unaffected integrity…..an instant classic”  Rhythms Magazine/Australia

“one of the most beautiful albums so far this year” GuitarPlayer Magazine/The Netherlands

“brilliantly floating quality music….best 2020 spring release” Blaskan/Sweden

“Letters of Gold; 8 classic songs of gold….” Rootstime/Belgiumhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/flEzY8otr2s