Hank Wangford & Noël Dashwood - Promises Promises (2023)

Hank Wangford, pioneer and Godfather of British alternative Country music and Americana, joins forces with Noel Dashwood, Britain's premier dobro player for a unique duo album of original songs A fresh take on classic Country and Americana it is Studio recorded live with Hank on guitar and ukulele and Noel on bass ukulele and dobro and harmonica. Dobro is a guitar played horizontally with a slide bar in the Hawaiian style, a foretaste of the classic Country sound of pedal steel and lap steel guitar. They sing spine tingling harmonies together on Hank's songs and the one non-original Image of Me, Conway Twitty's first Country hit which Hank learned from his mentor and inspiration the late Gram Parsons.

With Noel's lyrical dobro they celebrate the much-ignored influence of Hawaiian music on American popular music and most especially Country music. Noel tips his hat to the dobro of Pete Kirby - Bashful Brother Oswald of Roy Acuff's seminal Smoky Mountain Boys - in much of his playing. Two sides to this album - first Toetappers is up-tempo with songs about Oil and the current fossil fuel crisis, Jump In A River about lockdowns, spiritual and societal and Simple Pleasures, something we all crave. The second side Heartbreakers is sadder ballads about cheating, lies, lost love, jilted wedding, drinking and broken Promises Promises.

And Something In The Air asks is there a god? The whole album is a heartfelt tribute to the classic roots of Country that Hank was pulled into by his friend Gram.