I love music and right now I’m obsessing over Australian singer/songwriter Dan Sultan. I discovered him on the INXS reprise of their hits “Original Sin” featuring guest performers. While I enjoy “Homemade Biscuits,” Sultan’s “Get Out While You Can” is a masterpiece.
It’s Australian Rules music, meaning there are no rules. My favorite kind of music, which can’t be classified or put neatly away in a category by some critic. It is country western rock soul blues jazz.
When I obsess over a band, I make a tape of the CD for the car, which has the best sound system I own. I usually keep it in there for three or four weeks, listening to it with the treble all the way up, then the bass all the way up, concentrating on the lyrics, then listening to the instruments, and so on, until I get tired of it.
I’ve had the tape of Dan’s two albums, plus “Just Keep Walkin’” from “Original Sin,” playing for three and a half months and I’m still not tired of it!
For you music fans who are jaded by the music industry, you’ll be glad to know that both “Homemade Biscuits” and “Get Out While You Can” are indie releases, produced by Sultan and Scott Wilson.
Dan designed the colorful cover of “Homemade Biscuits,” which reminds me of a close-up of something by Van Gogh. “Get Out While You Can,” designed by Larkscapes, is totally different, reminding me of a Melmac plate. Somehow compelling, the look of it persuaded me to purchase some fan merchandise on the musician’s website, something I rarely do.
Sultan’s music is rich and complex, smoky bluesy one minute, as western as Gene Autry the next and as Motown as James Brown after that. From haunting ballads and lonesome country, we go to rip-roaring soul rock. The drummer is a god and the arrangements are genius.
They don’t mess around with just guitars and a drum set, either. I swear Dan Sultan’s band uses every instrument known to man at some point. Here’s a list of instruments used from the CD liner notes: piano, electric guitar, vibrato guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, slide guitar, table steel guitar, mandolin, double bass, Moog synthesizer, trombone and baritone trombone, trumpet, sax and tenor sax, drums, percussion, organ and chains. At the end of “Fear of Flying,” I swear they are breaking the drumsticks and throwing them against the wall.
He was a child prodigy and has been a musician since the age of four. I’m willing to bet he can play most of the instruments I listed above! He and partner Wilson have come up with heartfelt lyrics backed by incredible music. The fact they can write such gut-wrenching words without having all the experiences is a testament to their creativity and imagination.
I don’t mean to imply that the music is too busy. “Roslyn”, the song Dan wrote for his mother about taking aboriginal children away to government schools, is done with his voice and a mandolin. If it doesn’t make you cry, you have no heart.
Leading it all is the down-to-earth voice of Dan Sultan. He has the gravel-grinding sound of Joe Coker when the song demands it, but a sweet, smooth sound in his ballads. Then he sings like a Motown star in “Cadillac and Mustang” or “Just Keep Walkin’” bringing to mind Little Richard and James Brown. He can sing with a laugh, a cry or a break in his voice. In other words, he can sing anything and do it with soul.
His perfect southern accent is fascinating! You would swear he was a redneck from Texas, but the lyrics give him away: “that fateful day, 25 and sunny”; “wind whipping madly”; “3 points of rain”; “barrel up the Hume”; “1700 K ….won’t be stopping till Byron Bay.” In “Old Fitzroy”, Dan pronounces “something to eat” as “sumpin’ to eat” exactly the way my father used to. My dad was born in Texas and lived in Louisiana.
And just what is “3 points of rain”? I’d have to guess it’s Australian slang similar to “mint condition” or “cherry.”
Dan, I would love to hear you cover some Jackson Browne hits! His soulful lyrics were made for you! Doctor My Eyes, Rock Me In the Water, These Days, The Pretender, Lives in the Balance, I’m Alive, and The Night Inside Me are tracks I know you could do to perfection!
I didn’t come into Dan’s camp because of his looks, although he is one breath-taking young man! It was the lyrics, the music and the sound of his voice.
He played the heavy in the 2009 movie “Bran Nue Dae”, a cute little story about Australian aborigines. Ironic, because he played a white guy. In reality, he is half Irish and half aborigine. This is where he got the nickname “The Black Elvis”, but he is so much more than that! I’ve read a lot of hoopla over his hip gyrations and fancy stage moves. If that’s all you can think of when he performs, you are not listening!
Dan took INXS’s ho-hum “Just Keep Walkin’” and made an incredible track out of it for “Original Sin”. He was more than a guest star, he gave them a gift! It is the only track on the album that is significantly different than the original INXS music. Smokey country soul rock – probably “kitch living” best describes it. Congrats to him and whoever arranged the music.
How does a Californian in her 60’s relate to a 27-year-old Australian rock star? That is the breadth of his appeal! I get a big kick out of “Fear of Flying”, having been in aviation for 20 years. I was inspired to write a short story after hearing “Old Fitzroy”. “Goddess Love” reminds me of my daughter and “Dingo” of my son-in-law, soon to be ex! “Cadillac and Mustang” is a rollicking good time like “What’d You Say?” from my high school days.
That raspy, yet sweet, voice is like a cat’s tongue. It touches places in my soul that I didn’t know were there. I would pay significant cash money to hear him say “All Right!” in person.
And, sadly, I would have to. At present, they are touring in Australia, so the plane ticket alone would be the down payment on a small house. I hope they decide to come to the States and, if they are ever in California, I’ll be there!
Just Keep Makin’ Music, Dan! You are a star in my book.