Why Delphinium CD Is A Blues Milestone

By Jerry Collins


Late bloomers in the contemporary music scene offer the most distinctive works, and there are a lot of them who have become popular. Great music is being made by people of all ages today, and age groups here do not relate since most things are available on YouTube and other sites. Some discovered playing late while others started young, stopped and then rediscovered their playing roots.

One of those who have had the longish journey rediscovered his musician self in an open mic hootenanny. From this, he reaccessed the world and made an album distinguished by mature thought and inspiration in Delphinium CD. People who have discovered Dean Maser will be pleasantly surprised by this CD.

Maser has wandered around a bit, and he is entirely within the tradition of American blues minstrelsy, with many greats coming before him. There are many masters, and Dylan has been lately recognized with a Nobel in literature, a conundrum for all American music makers. Maser, though, has skipped into a unique space with a the visual and rural Gothic perspective in this album.

Delphinium continues his journey into a broad landscape, filled with the sere and open vistas of the Midwest and the spiritual rigors of the American West. The title of this new work was taken from the flower, which is considered a late bloomer, coming round in the high heat of summer. It has a broad geographical range, growing on meadows on the plain as well as alpine valleys.

His musical roots was church music like Kumbayah from which he has recovered after years of struggle. His music with guitars and ukeleles is all the better for having exchanged the song with real spiritualism he found during the wandering and undecided years. In high school, he tried shooting the works with a band, recording a 3 part work that he says no one has ever heard or will every hear.

The musician is also a blogger, and his blog is entitled The Good Ancestor, which is a rumination about roots ethereal or real. It is about the history of his music. The artist in him has finally taken everything in stride and this shows clearly in this first full length album he has made.

He has also come into his own with the blues, and he and his band of traveling players named SoulShine are readying an eclectic album of this kind. Their influences range from Johnny Cash to ZZ Top, from Hendrix to Clapton, Dylan and BB King. And people should watch for it, because Maser and his group are seasoned musicians playing as a classic trio.

He recorded the album in studios in Boston and Minneapolis, with players coming from the Dakotas and Africa. His stand is all about making his influences come at as native to the album. Despite the eclecticism, all things that stand for the Blues are there, as defined by the first ditty ever dedicated to its source Old Man River.

Titles in the album include Strong Love, Heroes, Heart Be True and One Time. The list also features the title track, A Little Older and The 1 Second Miracle, which are excellent takes on the tradition. And De Blues is nothing if not traditional, about all things Christian and Biblical inspiration on American soil, about feelings so vast and deep that only tears can express them.




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