DAN STUART,
with SACRI CUORI.

Saturday 8th September 2012.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2.

Tonight, courtesy of East West Promotions, DAN STUART makes his debut at Bedford Esquires. One of the prime movers of the eighties alternative music scene, he first made his name as a member of Green On Red (along with Chuck Prophet who performed here a few years ago). They inspired the likes of Ryan Adams, Wilco etc. Although reluctant to be included in the so called 'Paisley Underground' line up of bands such as Rain Parade, Long Ryders, Mazzy Starr, even early Bangles. Loosely they could be described as country folk rock or even 'cowpunk'. He also teamed up with Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) to form Danny And Dusty. Since then solo projects have been rather patchy. That is until this year when after a long hiatus of creativity, Dan released a brand new album entitled "The deliverance of Marlowe Billings".
Size wise, Dan Stuart is a big man. In his prime, he and then tour colleague Steve Earle infamously challenged everybody in a notorious London boozer! At 51 years of age he has lived an interesting life, but it looks like it has taken an enormous toll on his health. His face is rather tired looking and he speaks and communicates frequently, but often seems confused and disoriented. It is a little distressing to witness. The turnout this evening is sadly very paltry. To emphasise this fact (although he does have sympathy with the promoter) Dan counts everybody present with his index finger. Checking everyone off he reaches just 20! He cannot fathom it out. His backing band are the all Italian Sacri Cuori and Bedford has the hightest Italian population per person in Great Britain (they even have their own consulate in the town). Dan looks frustrated and shouts in exasperation "Where the f*** are they?". Methinks probably all at home watching the Milanese version of the X Factor on their enormous satellite dishes!!
Dan Stuart admits he "could never navigate the music business". Possibly? Under the pseudonym of Marlowe Billings he lives very contentedly in Mexico "near a church". It's a religious area which seems a little unreal in such a drug driven, poverty ridden country. I suppose it is a better life than being incarcerated in an American psychiatric unit! He plays plenty from his new album, it seems like a new lease of life and rather excitedly he tells us that "there's no agenda". The songs appear to be as taut and fragile as their composer. Instantly we are treated to "Can't Be Found", "Gonna Change", and "Love So Rare". Dan then goes off on other meandering thoughts before uttering very loudly "Oh f*** T-Bone Burnett".
This man may now be at home and at peace with the Aztecs, but his many observations are still done through the eyes of an American, such as "The only monolithic thing in this world is Walt Disney". It's a real shame that Dan Stuart's overriding memory of Bedford is what he has in front of him. No crowd, no atmosphere and polite instead of rapturous applause. To sum it up, his lyrics in one song probably say it so much better. They are as follows: "You said you loved me, but we know you lied"!

The only support tonight is SACRI CUORI who are also Dan Stuarts's backing band. In fact they have been with him for near on 4 years. Their band name, in English, means secret hearts. They speak exceptionally well in good broken English and they seem happy to be here. Sacri Cuori's mainly instrumental set enchants. They best describe it as "almost folk music of a land that doesn't exist", before adding later that it's "somewhere between Italy and wherever". Spaghetti Western soundtracks spring to mind of course. It is very fun film background music although I can imagine walking around in a catacomb in Rome with Sacri Cuori playing nearby! Tracks from their brand new album "Rosario" are prominently played. They include "Silver dollar" (sadly without it's lyricist and vocalist Isobel Campbell). For Esquires this was a rare journey into some real Italian musical sounds. Ciao!