DAVE'S DIARY - 9 APRIL 2013 - DAN CONWAY CD REVIEW
DAN
CONWAY
NEW WORLD ORDER - FATHER'S HANDS
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Caboolture
raised singer-songwriter and guitarist Dan Conway shares geographical
and child prodigy roots with expatriate Australasian superstar Keith
Urban. And, like Urban, he received a boost when veteran Tamworth hotelier-music manager Joan Douglas discovered him in a Brisbane talent quest at the age of 11. The young gun, who moved to Tamworth with his dad when he was 12, also had an early start in song-writing at 13. He landed his song No Good In Goodbye on the Chasing Bailey debut CD Long Story Short and left the band in 2009 to pursue a solo career that landed him on Australia's Got Talent. |
Conway experienced
his first large Melbourne crowds at a Vinnies World Youth Day concert
at Fed Square in a show headlined by prolific Golden Guitarist and ARIA
award winner Troy Cassar-Daley.
He was also a member of Chasing Bailey when they opened for Kentucky born
singing actor Dwight Yoakam on his second Australian tour at St Kilda
Palais.
That was then.
Now Conway, 21, returns to centre stage as a guitarist-harmonica player
in ex-Australian of The Year Lee Kernaghan's band with the Wolfe Brothers.
He also has a new double disc - featuring his 10 original compositions
on CD.
He produced New World Order A side with multi-talented Glen Hannah
- Conway played guitar, drums and bass with cameos by drummer Pete Drummond,
bassists Matt Fell and Roni Francois and Lachlan Doley on Hammond organ.
OK that's the personnel - what about the songs?
Well, Conway
has an accessible vocal delivery on his idyllic title track entrée
- a positive love song that segues into the plaintive Only One
and Missing Part drenched with a rain metaphor.
But the highlight is Leavin' Anyway - an organ propelled biographical
ruptured romance requiem, replete with his John Hiatt record retention
as the spoils of battles of the heart.
Equally redemptive is the melancholic That Kind Of Lover.
FATHER'S HANDS
"I'm
going to build a new man with my father's hands." - Father's Hands
- Dan Conway-Glen Hannah.
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The
singer produced the B Side Father's Hands - dedicated to his
late father Patrick who died last year at 66 - at Mahna Mahna Studios
Conway's paternal paean kicks off with autobiographical Just Like You and evocative title track where the singer shares writing credit with Hannah on the song's bridge. He utilises a DNA reference to illustrate the passion of Wearin' Me Down while absolute love propels 1+2+You+Me. My Only Way Home - driven by a strong beating heart and hefty dose of nostalgia and regret - is a fitting finale for this soulful organic entrée for an artist who dares to dream. |
Casual listeners
might yearn for Conway's vocal timbre to tumble a little lower but that
only happens with time and maturity.
But Smokey Robinson has never lost his ability to reach his high notes
in a colourful career and old Smoky Dawson could still hold a tune as
a nonagenarian.
Watch this space for the soaring Conway comet.