Especially in recent years, it’s difficult to argue that Dirk Powell is the preeminent roots artist on today’s scene, certainly its foremost producer. He doesn’t assume the spotlight often for his own work, content in his various roles as producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and sideman. This effort, When I Wait for You, is a follow-up to his 2014 Sugar Hill release Walking Through Clay. Consider these stunning albums of recent vintage that he produced or co-produced – Rhiannon Giddens ‘ 2017 release Freedom Highway and her 2019 collaboration with Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah, Songs of Our Native Daughters, as well as the lesser known but powerful Grant Dermody’s My Dony, covered like the others, on these pages.
There are not many who can claim this pedigree. Over the course of his career, Dirk Powell has recorded and toured with Eric Clapton, Joan Baez, Rhiannon Giddens, Linda Ronstadt, Jack White, Loretta Lynn, and many others. His work in film, including Cold Mountain, found him collaborating with producers including T Bone Burnett, and directors like Anthony Minghella and Ang Lee. Powell understands tradition but is superior to just about anyone else in translating those folk traditions, whether they are rooted in Louisiana, The Delta at large, Appalachia, or even The British Isles, to modern audiences.
All but one of these is a Powell original, rendered by an album where 17 share credits. The songs showcase Powell’s gritty vocals and penchant for catchy melody set against a soundscape of fiddles, accordion, whistles, harmonica, and a rhythm section. Donald Shaw (Capercaillie) co-produced the album, which was recorded in Louisiana and Scotland and features special guests Rhiannon Giddens, Sara Watkins, Sean Watkins, Mike McGoldrick, and John McCusker. He even enlisted his daughters, who grew up with a lifelong love of harmony, to add background vocals. Others, like Giddens’ bandmates drummer Jamie Dick, and bassist Jason Sypher appear alongside Grant Dermody (harmonica) and Louisiana mainstay, organist Eric Adcock, among others.
Powell brought Shaw, McGoldrick and James Mackintosh from England and Scotland to his Louisiana studio. With his mother ill at the time, he couldn’t drive the three hours from Lafayette to New Orleans when they flew in; they settled for a Greyhound trip. “That was diving into the Louisiana experience, directly and fully, in the most real way,” Dirk says with a laugh. Immersed in his studio, located on the banks of the Bayou Teche, they worked on the songs. “It was beautiful to feel their Celtic sounds merge with the old cypress wood of the walls, and the humid air, and settle into the energy of this place,” he says.
The album has an intimacy one would expect with such close friends gathered for the sessions. Powell intended this to be a more relaxed organic, less “aggressive” album than previous releases. Stomping Cajun fiddles and accordions take a back seat of sorts to the blending of fiddles, tin whistles, and flutes as the sounds of the bayou merge with the traditional ones from across The Pond as McGoldrick and McCusker (both close collaborators of Mark Knopfler) appear on more selections than the other musicians/vocalists, some of whom appear on only one or two selections. Aside from their instrumental contributions, Giddens sings on three in a harmony role while Sara Watkins is the featured vocalist on “The Little Things.” Powell, along with the help, does plenty of heavy lifting. This dizzying list appears in the credits under his name: Lead vocal, acoustic guitar, baritone electric guitar, fiddle, fretless banjo, bass, piano, mandolin, keyboards, button accordion, percussion, and mellotron.
The released single “I Ain’t Playing Pretty Polly” is emblematic of the familial vibe of the album. “I grew up playing and singing ‘Pretty Polly’,” Powell explained to The Bluegrass Situation. “I was really proud to have learned a unique version of it in the “overhand” banjo style from my grandfather in Kentucky. One evening I was singing it during a soundcheck and heard the words “he stabbed her through the heart and her heart’s blood did flow” coming out of my mouth… and I just stopped cold in the middle of the verse. I’ve seen the looks of hurt and confusion on my daughters’ faces when violent words like these are accepted or brushed aside. And I’ve seen fear in my grandmother’s eyes as she gave warnings to my sisters about men. And I decided, ‘I’m never singing this song again.’ Instead, I choose to sing, as I do here, about women like my Aunt Myrtle and men like my Uncle Clyde, who were together from the 1930s to the 2000s. Their relationship was full of love and sweetness and gratitude and respect. Those are the stories I actually know, from my own life, and those are the stories I’m going to tell.”
Other highlights include the McCusker/McGoldrick-prominent “The Silk Merchant’s Daughter,” featuring one of Powell’s strongest vocals, somewhat evoking the late Levon Helm as does the more country sounding “Bright Light of Day,” as Adcock’s organ and his daughters’ harmonies color the tune along with Dermody’s harmonica and McGoldrick’s flute. Of course, Rhiannon Giddens’ voice is always welcome as she joins Powell on “Say Old Playmate,” playing viola as well. “Little Things” is tailor made for Watkins’ vocal and fiddle while “Jack of Hearts” brings back Giddens and five other vocalists in Powell’s theme song of sorts, having been quoted in the press materials as saying, “I identify with what the jack represents in many ways. Not a king necessarily, but someone who is often tasked with bringing out the best in others., being in service in creative ways. Perhaps someone moving more in the shadows than declaring things from a throne.” It’s a most enthusiastic, chorus-filled song for a reason.
This gets better with each listen. Powell claims that he began the process casually, but the results are superb, making this a contender for roots, folk, whatever the Grammys term it, Traditional Folk perhaps.
