With two albums to their credit, DATSON HUGHES's own-brand folk noir weaves traditional themes of murder and mystery into beautiful tales of misadventure and road-trips-gone-wrong. Set to the twanging drone of Datson’s hand-crafted Appalachian Mountain dulcimers, their music is 'the sound of The Velvet Underground jamming with Incredible String Band. '
The duo is currently touring their latest album, Now and Forever. The new album features the songwriting and voice of Annette Hughes, mirroring their previous album, Flowers and the Axe showcasing songs written by Datson.
The duo is currently touring their latest album, Now and Forever. The new album features the songwriting and voice of Annette Hughes, mirroring their previous album, Flowers and the Axe showcasing songs written by Datson.
WHISPERING HIGHWAY: "Mountain music, they used to call it. Made by people who lived up in the hills, in the backwoods; people who often made their own instruments, and certainly made their own rules and their own fun. Datson+Hughes live in the hinterlands behind the Sunshine Coast in south-east Queensland, where it’s a lot more lush than it ever was in the Appalachians, and they make their own brand of mountain music. It is appropriately lush, a blend of everything and nothing they’ve carried with them from the inner-inner-city post-punk art-rock demi-monde plus a few new things they’ve found up in the hills and use in that same DIY spirit, most principally an age and environment-induced stillness that allows for introspection... Datson+Hughes produce songs out of their own harmonic system, beholden only to themselves, reflections on lives well lived, on hurdles and loss and regrets surmounted, that end up in the moment, on the spiritual quest on-going… the climb to the top of the mountain…"
"If I said there was something of a gobetweensy thing about it I don't mean in any literal way, rather that there just seems to be some sort of unique Queensland feel about it." Clinton Walker (author and cultural comentator)
"If I said there was something of a gobetweensy thing about it I don't mean in any literal way, rather that there just seems to be some sort of unique Queensland feel about it." Clinton Walker (author and cultural comentator)
FLOWERS AND THE AXE is ".. a blend of all of my favourite Folk/Psych records. Plus something more. A step beyond into the realm of truth and beauty... The right balance of love and control... dark and evocative, with a bright and hopeful tenderness streaming through celestial female vocals and some crystalline guitar sounds that crack and splinter ... rays of light and salvation that break through dark clouds of loss and sorrow.. An instant classic." Khristian Mizzi. (Melbourne singer-songwriter)
FESTIVAL WORKSHOP - APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN DULCIMER CHIOR
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PRESENTED by DATSON HUGHES An opportunity to experience the pleasure of playing in a dulcimer 'choir' (ensemble). * ALL PLAYERS WITH OWN INSTRUMENT WELCOME * SIX PLACES FOR BEGINNERS * Learn to play on Datson's hand made instruments * Acquire the fundamentals of modal music * Hands-on acoustic workshop ( we can do it under a tree!) * Materials and music provided * Min 2 Sessions @ three hours. * Cost: FREE More info at https://www.datsonhughes.com/custom-sound.html |
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DESCRIPTION
25 words
Singer Songwriters DATSON HUGHES perform beautiful own-brand folk noir on Datson's hand-crafted Appalachian Mountain dulcimers.
50 words
With two albums to their credit, DATSON HUGHES's own-brand folk noir weaves traditional themes of murder and mystery into beautiful tales of misadventure and road-trips-gone-wrong, set to the twanging drone of Datson’s hand-crafted Appalachian Mountain dulcimers - 'the sound of The Velvet Underground jamming with Incredible String Band. '
200 word
In 2008 DATSON HUGHES formed to give voice to the songwriting partnership of Geoffrey Datson (Surfside Six, Samurai Trash) and Annette Hughes . The duo released their MEJU produced debut album Flowers & the Axe to high praise in 2017. In the wake of a packed European touring schedule during 2018 /19, DATSON HUGHES is currently touring Now & Forever in 2021.
The pair moved to country Queensland in 2014 where they found time to develop and rehearse their work - “a blend of everything and nothing they’ve carried with them from the inner-inner-city post-punk art-rock demimonde plus a few new things they’ve found up in the hills”. Singing in haunting close harmonies, they weave lyrical folk traditions of murder, mayhem and mystery into beautiful tales of misadventure, road-trips-gone-wrong, love, life, loss and redemption, set to the gorgeous twangling drones of Datson's hand-made Appalachian mountain dulcimers and acoustic guitars.
25 words
Singer Songwriters DATSON HUGHES perform beautiful own-brand folk noir on Datson's hand-crafted Appalachian Mountain dulcimers.
50 words
With two albums to their credit, DATSON HUGHES's own-brand folk noir weaves traditional themes of murder and mystery into beautiful tales of misadventure and road-trips-gone-wrong, set to the twanging drone of Datson’s hand-crafted Appalachian Mountain dulcimers - 'the sound of The Velvet Underground jamming with Incredible String Band. '
200 word
In 2008 DATSON HUGHES formed to give voice to the songwriting partnership of Geoffrey Datson (Surfside Six, Samurai Trash) and Annette Hughes . The duo released their MEJU produced debut album Flowers & the Axe to high praise in 2017. In the wake of a packed European touring schedule during 2018 /19, DATSON HUGHES is currently touring Now & Forever in 2021.
The pair moved to country Queensland in 2014 where they found time to develop and rehearse their work - “a blend of everything and nothing they’ve carried with them from the inner-inner-city post-punk art-rock demimonde plus a few new things they’ve found up in the hills”. Singing in haunting close harmonies, they weave lyrical folk traditions of murder, mayhem and mystery into beautiful tales of misadventure, road-trips-gone-wrong, love, life, loss and redemption, set to the gorgeous twangling drones of Datson's hand-made Appalachian mountain dulcimers and acoustic guitars.
SHORT BIO
Geoffrey Datson (Surfside 6, Samurai Trash) and writer Annette Hughes began their artistic collaboration twenty years ago in 1997. Three years later they set up their indy Stickylabel to release Datson's poetry and electronica which he had been making since returning from NY a decade earlier. They formed their songwriting partnership and folk duo in 2008. The songs, some begun in the 1980s, are finally finished and distilled into their Masterpiece double album. Volume 1, Flowers and the Axe is released and Volume 2, Now and Forever, is now out, released 7 August 2021. They have packed up their books and clothes, transferred everything to the cloud and intend to be on the road - forever.
LONG BIO
Geoffrey Datson and Annette Hughes began their artistic collaboration twenty years ago in 1997. Three years later in 2000 when they set up their independent Stickylabel. Poet and sound artist Datson (Surfside 6, Samurai Trash, Konk) penned SS6’s Hit single Cool in the Tube, and Hughes is a published author (Harper Collins 4th Estate). They formed their songwriting partnership and their performance duo DATSON HUGHES in 2008, playing all original songs on Datson's handmade Appalachian Mountain dulcimers. They first began performing publicly in conjunction with their book projects (Then & Then, Protest Singer and Art Life Chooks) and were consequently invited to perform at various writers' festivals.
In 2012 award-winning record producer Kalju Tonuma turned up in their neighbourhood. Tonuma, who had spent several years in front of a console mixing some of the biggest bands of his generation, swept in, set up a load of old-school microphones in their livingroom and everything changed. When he presented 'Eve Fooled Yourself' all covered in his magic production dust, what was intended as only a sampler of their live sound morphed into the wildly ambitious recording project - a major studio double album.
Towards the end of the recording process, Melbourne guitarist and vocalist Megan Bernard, with her virtuosic musicianship and sublime, etherial vocal arrangements joined Tonuma's production team, and together, they have made a very rare and beautiful record, a masterpiece of the psychedelic folk genre. Flowers and the Axe is the culmination of Datson's life's work, but only the beginning of Hughes's songwriting journey. Her baby is Now and Forever, released in 2021.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
DATSON HUGHES intended to release of their forthcoming second album Now and Forever with a national tour in the second half of 2021, but as the whole country is in lockdown, it will have to be 2022. In 2018 they supported the Sydney launch of Bush Gothic's latest album, and set out on tour in Europe to perform at the OZORA trance/psych festival in Hungary in 2019. International touring has taken them to Budapest, Assisi, Dublin and the Marciac Jazz Festival and Galerio Sacho festival in Limoges, Bulgaria, Ireland, UK and Turkey where there is much interest in Datson's modal instruments. Their 2017 Whispering Highway EP Tour saw them play in Sydney at the Union Hotel (with Terry Serio’s Ministry of Truth), Fairlight Folk, Illawarra Folk Club, Annandale Hotel, and Gasoline Pony and the Django Bar with Ben Fink and Dale Caldwell's duo project Close to Forever, with gigs at Fairlight Folk and Illawarra Folk Club. DATSON HUGHES played in Brisbane on the same bill as the reformed Leftovers - a huge buzz for Hughes who came of age in the Brisbane punk scene and at the Byron Bay Writers' Festival, appearing in concert with Paul Kelly.
RELEASES
Single: Poor Time 2015 Masterpiece Records
Single: Thief of Sky (highly commended in the 2016 Q Music awards) with Planet B side, 2016
EP: Whispering Highway. 2016
Single: Sweet Mathilda Waltz 2017
Album: Flowers & the Axe debut released to high praise in 2017.
Album: Now & Forever, (part two of their double album project released 2021.
Geoffrey Datson (Surfside 6, Samurai Trash) and writer Annette Hughes began their artistic collaboration twenty years ago in 1997. Three years later they set up their indy Stickylabel to release Datson's poetry and electronica which he had been making since returning from NY a decade earlier. They formed their songwriting partnership and folk duo in 2008. The songs, some begun in the 1980s, are finally finished and distilled into their Masterpiece double album. Volume 1, Flowers and the Axe is released and Volume 2, Now and Forever, is now out, released 7 August 2021. They have packed up their books and clothes, transferred everything to the cloud and intend to be on the road - forever.
LONG BIO
Geoffrey Datson and Annette Hughes began their artistic collaboration twenty years ago in 1997. Three years later in 2000 when they set up their independent Stickylabel. Poet and sound artist Datson (Surfside 6, Samurai Trash, Konk) penned SS6’s Hit single Cool in the Tube, and Hughes is a published author (Harper Collins 4th Estate). They formed their songwriting partnership and their performance duo DATSON HUGHES in 2008, playing all original songs on Datson's handmade Appalachian Mountain dulcimers. They first began performing publicly in conjunction with their book projects (Then & Then, Protest Singer and Art Life Chooks) and were consequently invited to perform at various writers' festivals.
In 2012 award-winning record producer Kalju Tonuma turned up in their neighbourhood. Tonuma, who had spent several years in front of a console mixing some of the biggest bands of his generation, swept in, set up a load of old-school microphones in their livingroom and everything changed. When he presented 'Eve Fooled Yourself' all covered in his magic production dust, what was intended as only a sampler of their live sound morphed into the wildly ambitious recording project - a major studio double album.
Towards the end of the recording process, Melbourne guitarist and vocalist Megan Bernard, with her virtuosic musicianship and sublime, etherial vocal arrangements joined Tonuma's production team, and together, they have made a very rare and beautiful record, a masterpiece of the psychedelic folk genre. Flowers and the Axe is the culmination of Datson's life's work, but only the beginning of Hughes's songwriting journey. Her baby is Now and Forever, released in 2021.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
DATSON HUGHES intended to release of their forthcoming second album Now and Forever with a national tour in the second half of 2021, but as the whole country is in lockdown, it will have to be 2022. In 2018 they supported the Sydney launch of Bush Gothic's latest album, and set out on tour in Europe to perform at the OZORA trance/psych festival in Hungary in 2019. International touring has taken them to Budapest, Assisi, Dublin and the Marciac Jazz Festival and Galerio Sacho festival in Limoges, Bulgaria, Ireland, UK and Turkey where there is much interest in Datson's modal instruments. Their 2017 Whispering Highway EP Tour saw them play in Sydney at the Union Hotel (with Terry Serio’s Ministry of Truth), Fairlight Folk, Illawarra Folk Club, Annandale Hotel, and Gasoline Pony and the Django Bar with Ben Fink and Dale Caldwell's duo project Close to Forever, with gigs at Fairlight Folk and Illawarra Folk Club. DATSON HUGHES played in Brisbane on the same bill as the reformed Leftovers - a huge buzz for Hughes who came of age in the Brisbane punk scene and at the Byron Bay Writers' Festival, appearing in concert with Paul Kelly.
RELEASES
Single: Poor Time 2015 Masterpiece Records
Single: Thief of Sky (highly commended in the 2016 Q Music awards) with Planet B side, 2016
EP: Whispering Highway. 2016
Single: Sweet Mathilda Waltz 2017
Album: Flowers & the Axe debut released to high praise in 2017.
Album: Now & Forever, (part two of their double album project released 2021.
LIVE PERFORMANCE
DATSON HUGHES IS A DUO, (3 piece when joined by our drummer)
AUSTRALIA - PERFOMANCE REQUIREMENTS
We have all our own equipment including PA and independent power source so can perform anywhere, from a park rotunda to a backyard.
Techs: we have our own Allan & Heath desk which should be treated as a mic. Our sound comes to you balanced, and we use our PA as fold back.
DATSON HUGHES IS A DUO, (3 piece when joined by our drummer)
AUSTRALIA - PERFOMANCE REQUIREMENTS
We have all our own equipment including PA and independent power source so can perform anywhere, from a park rotunda to a backyard.
Techs: we have our own Allan & Heath desk which should be treated as a mic. Our sound comes to you balanced, and we use our PA as fold back.
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