Not sure if you’ve checked-in on The Dimes boys lately, but they’ve been very, very busy writing and recording new songs for the past few months. Singer/songwriter, Professor Johnny Clay has been virtually obsessed with the life and history of New England and has brought back to life many stories and spirits from long ago.
A little backstory… Johnny wrote a song on their most recent album, The Silent Generation, titled, “Battle of San Jacinto.” The Battle of San Jacinto is an important piece of US history, which Johnny grew up learning all about, being he grew up in Texas and the battle was one of the decisive battles fought during the Texas Revolution. He enjoyed writing a song about a place near his home and later decided he’d like to tip his hat to his friend and fellow bandmate, Pierre, and write a song about where Pierre grew-up: New England (Boston to be exact). Also, being fans of The Beatles, I recall Johnny saying something about the backstory of Strawberry Fields (where Lennon grew-up) and Penny Lane (where McCartney grew-up) and how Lennon and McCartney sort of wrote those songs as a form of nostalgia for each other. In any event, Johnny decided to write a song about Pierre’s homeland…and it quickly turned into more than 20 songs – all about New England. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.
It’s a pretty cool concept idea of sorts, with all of the new material intimately intertwined in the lives, times and places of our country’s birthplace: New England. Plus, Johnny is a serious history buff, so I think he just likes geeking out and writing songs about dead people, events and ideas from long ago. Throughout the process, he’s been documenting some thoughts and backstory on The Dimes blog and most significant – he’s been posting early, work-in-progress demos of the new songs for people to listen to and even download if one pleases. You should take a few minutes and explore the blog and listen to the demos. Click here to visit the blog: www.thedimes.com/blog Message to all indie, DIY artists out there…You NEED a blog. You MUST communicate with your fans, family and friends. The Dimes blog is a case study in action and I must admit, I’m proud of what they’ve done with it. Team Marmoset helped them with the set-up and handed them the tools and they’ve really run with it and made it special.
Most importantly, I must say I’m excited about the latest demo they posted this week. The song, titled “Celia’s Garden” is really dynamite and might be my favorite of the batch of new material. As Johnny explains on his blog, the lyrics are based on the paintings of Childe Hassam, a 19th Century impressionist painter from Boston, who spent his summers in Maine at Celia Thaxter’s Garden. Not get too over-dramatic about this song or anything, but seriously – it’s wonderful. Considering this is only a demo and will most likely change and improve as they continue working on it – it gives us all plenty of reason to start getting excited about their new record, due out this summer.
With the permission of The Dimes, here is the latest demo, Celia’s Garden:
The Dimes – Battle of San Jacinto
Also, here is an image I grabbed from Wikipedia of Celia Thaxter in her garden – another one of the inspiring works of Childe Hassam. Cool, huh?
