DaShawn Hickman, with Charlie Hunter – Drums, Roots & Steel
7 Tracks 36 minutes
In the later part of the 1990 decade, Arhoolie Records released a number of releases highlighting the sacred steel music that had become a major part of the worship service in two dominions of The Church of the Living God, with talented players using lap and pedal steel guitars instead of the organ to raise a joyful noise.
Those releases created a surge of interest in artists like the Campbell Brothers, Calvin Cooke, and Aubrey Ghent. Soon a new generation of players like Roosevelt Collier, A.J. Ghent (Aubrey’s son), and the Lee Boys took the music in new directions. At the forefront were Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Randolph’s fleet-fingered excursions on the pedal steel garnered him international acclaim, moving the music beyond its gospel roots, becoming quite popular with aficionados of the jam band scene as well as a staple on the blues festival circuit.
The initial impetus for this debut release from DaShawn Hickman came from the 2019 North Carolina Folk Festival, where Hickman met Charlie Hunter, a guitarist noted for his outstanding technical skills as well as the custom built guitars with seven and eight strings that he utilizes. They stayed in touch, and two years ago decided to do a project together. Hickman had been playing with the Allen Boys, billed as North Carolina’s only touring sacred steel band.
It was Hunter’s suggestion that they create space for Hickman’s lap steel guitar, making it a focus in the mix. With that in mind, they enlisted the aid of two well-versed percussionists, Atiba Rorie and Brevan Hampden. Hunter handles the bass guitar. Hickman’s wife, Wendy, contributes vocals and plays the tambourine.
Hickman learned to play the steel guitar at a young age, listening to his mother sing, then trying to pick out the notes she sang on his instrument. You get a taste of that approach on “Shout,” a song of praise that finds DaShawn engaging in a spirited call and response with Wendy’s dignified vocal. The opening track, “Saints,” takes the classic in a new direction with a thick bass line from Hunter, swirling percussive rhythms, and Hickman’s impressive improvisations on the melody. Another gospel standard, “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” gives Hickman the opportunity to showcase his musical approach, once again taking his time to explore the melody, avoiding the impulse to fill the space with a flurry of notes. Instead, his measured approach and sensitive interaction with the percussionists offers many delights.
“Morning Train” features a strong vocal turn from Wendy while her husband conjures up images of locomotives on the lap steel. When the drummers lay down a percussive break, Hickman finally turns the heat up, his inspired playing calling God’s children home. The couple share the vocals on the solemn “Don’t Let The Devil Ride,” another lengthy track full of the guitarist’s understated variations on the melody.
The disc finishes with Hickman’s interpretations of two more gospel standards, “Precious Lord” and “Wade In The Water.” The former is centered on a loping percussive pattern that gives Hickman a solid foundation for his subtly impassioned guitar musings while the latter has soaring steel licks that threaten to explode at any second, only to give way to a percussion coda that brings the brief track to a satisfying conclusion.
Throughout the album, Hickman stays focused on the song, the melody, and the voice, creating beautifully crafted improvisations that generate expressive new dimensions in familiar songs. It may take some time for his lap steel to sink into your consciousness. When it does, you will have no doubts as to why he is nominated for two 2023 Blues Blast Music Awards, in the New Artist Debut Album, and the Slide Guitarist Of the Year categories. It is a heady mix, this seamless melding of gospel music with rhythms that spring from African and Latin traditions, anchored by Hunter’s efforts on bass. And Hickman makes it work, reminding listeners time and again about the lessons he absorbed from his mother.
