Colorado's Dewey Paul Band reaches beyond the jam band labeling with thought-provoking, meaningful and inspiring material.
2009's "Ancient Heart" and 2008's "On The Devil's Highway" are only the most recent offering from former concert promoter Dewey Paul Moffitt whom has taken that leap full time from behind the scenes to down stage center. Moffitt previously released five CDs with his former band Dewey Decibel System while producing music festivals from Florida to Colorado as well as sound engineering for many venues and touring artists.
That type of backstage and front-of-house commitment has spawned a completely self-produced and do-it-yourself artist. The music itself has a wide-array of influences and isn't easily pigeon-holed by the genre-labeling elite.
"I would consider it lyrically-driven folk rock with splashes of improvisational jamming thrown in every chance we get. It seems everyone has the need to compare you to someone and I tend to hear a lot of people say Lou Reed, Petty, Springsteen and Dylan. It's certainly an honor when I hear those things." Moffitt says.
The Dylan influence seems like an obvious one, considering Moffitt also fronts an all-Bob Dylan cover band, Dylan66 and hosts an annual charity event honoring the music of Dylan. There is a lot of jam band influence heard as well, especially when the band performs live. Moffitt got his behind the scenes break when legendary concert promoter Bill Graham hired him to do production work in the early '90s. He spent several years setting up dressing rooms for the Grateful Dead before venturing out into producing music festivals and sound engineering.
"On one hand the (music) business is extremely harsh and unforgiving, and on the other hand when you are fortunate enough to participate in that magical exchange with an audience, I have found nothing more rewarding than that. Music is the medicine for the human soul, and I cannot imagine a life without it." Moffitt says.
Dewey Paul Band's 2009 CD "Ancient Heart" features band members Tim Steele on bass, a Denver music veteran and Colorado native, and east coast drum virtuoso Ben E. King, whom also adds several years of concert promoting experience to the team. Bill McKay, keyboardist for Leftover Salmon, lends organ tracks to five cuts of the CD and Arnie J. Green, whose credits include many San Francisco Bay Area bands including Steve Kimock and Zero, performs some guest guitar duties on the disc.
The name-dropping doesn't stop there, here's a few comments from other well-known musicians whom Dewey has performed with...
"I love the CD, it's really great work."
-John Oates (Hall & Oates) speaking about "On The Devil's Highway"
"Dewey is a true professional and has lots of material that's very inspiring to work with."
-Jose' Rossy, percussionist (Talking Heads, Robert Palmer, Patti LaBelle, Sonia Dada)
"You're a pretty good guitar player Dewey. I really enjoyed jamming with you."
-Melvin Seals, keyboardist (Jerry Garcia Band, JGB)
Dewey Paul Band is currently touring nationally.
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