Darren Watson announces new acoustic LP and 11-show Tour

Darren Watson announces new acoustic LP and 11-show New Zealand Tour in May.

Veteran bluesman Darren Watson (Chicago Smoke Shop, Midge Marsden Band, Planet Key) is proud to announce the release of Too Many Millionaires, his first all acoustic album, on May Day - Tuesday 1 May, 2018. Watson is also embarking on an 11-date national tour in support of the album throughout May. (Dates and venues listed below.)

Too Many Millionaires is Watson’s sixth album. However it’s the first released to be specifically produced for, and manufactured on vinyl. It’s also the first to move away from his trademark stinging electric guitar lines, and slick, modern studio production.

Eschewing modern recording & overdubbing techniques almost altogether, Watson sat in front of valve and ribbon microphones for two days at Wellington’s Surgery Studios last November with only his ‘50s vintage Gibson acoustic guitar and his lived-in voice. Joined by a handpicked acoustic band including blues harmonica virtuoso Terry Casey, he and the band played ‘live to tape’ through a selection of his newest compositions. The best takes were kept and mixed by multi award-winning engineer Lee Prebble.
The result is an immediacy and intimacy that Watson does not think he has captured on any of his previous, more ‘polished’ recordings.

“ You know what? I feel like this might be my first ‘proper’ album. It’s the first time I’ve ever left a studio and thought, Wow, that REALLY sounds like me. There’s no glossing over, no smoothing out the rough edges, or tidy ups. It’s how I sound... warts and all. The band played SO good, and Lee Prebble caught the lightning so well! “

Darren hopes the record will be enjoyed by blues fans of course but he also reckons country, gospel, folk, and even pop listeners will enjoy Too Many Millionaires.

“ There’s stuff on this record drawn from all over the roots music spectrum. I’ve been working real hard on honing my writing and playing and listening hard to loads of different music from the 20s through to the 40s. I think a lot of it will resonate with fans of all kinds of roots music. “

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