Album Notes

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In December of 2002, Dale Keys left his home in Boise, Idaho, for a flight to Nashville. With 26 original songs recorded on a homemade demo CD, he arrived in Music City hoping to pitch his songs and possibly meet some of his musical heroes. The following year would bring success and experiences to Dale far beyond his wildest expectations -- he not only met many of his musical heroes, but got to record with them on this, his debut album.

Dale's voice, guitar style, and Americana-based songwriting soon caught the attention of the local songwriting community, including two of his favorite artists: Hot Rize founder Tim O'Brien, who invited Dale to perform with him in-the-round at Nashville's songwriting Mecca, The Bluebird Cafe; and singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier (Mary Gauthier's CDs are also available on CD Baby).

On a January evening in 2003 at The Bluebird, Dale recognized a singer and guitarist he'd seen on the PBS television show "Austin City Limits" years earlier: Barry Tashian, longtime member of Emmylou Harris's Hot Band and leader of the legendary Boston-based 60s band Barry and The Remains.

Barry Tashian and his wife Holly are both very successful singer-songwriters in their own right (who had performed live on Garrison Keillor's 'Prairie Home Companion', the Grand Ole Opry, Mountain Stage, and E-Town, as well as singing studio background vocals for artists such as Nanci Griffith, Iris Dement, and Emmylou Harris). After hearing Dale's songs, they very generously offered to help him in his songwriting endeavors.

The following summer, in July of 2003, the Tashians set the wheels in motion to produce Dale's debut CD. They commissioned a crew of the finest session cats in Nashville, including New Grass Revival founder Sam Bush, pedal steel guitar legend Lloyd Green, guitarist Richard Bennett (of Dire Straits), fiddle master Stuart Duncan and bassist Dennis Crouch (Nashville Bluegrass Band, 'O Brother' soundtrack, 'Cold Mountain' soundtrack), and Dan Dugmore, longtime side-man to James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Rounding out the band was percussion master Kenny Malone. The album was recorded live over a three-day period, with Grammy-winning engineer Rich Adler at the helm. All of the songs on the album were written by Dale except "I'm Just Waitin'" (Barry Tashian) and "Empty Spaces," co-written by Dale with Mary Gauthier (who has also recorded the song for her upcoming release as well).

The pre-release of this album immediately landed it squarely on the Free Form American Roots Chart (http://3rdcm.austinamericana.com/), and it continues to draw rave reviews from independent and college radio stations in the U.S. and Europe.

As songwriter David Olney stated in the liner notes of the album, "Dale offers no easy platitudes, no moralistic bunko. Just the honest observations of a talented artist." (www.davidolney.com)

For more information on this CD and Dale's schedule, visit www.dalekeys.com.