Written by: Shay Coulson | Photo(s) by: Dirtwire
Dirtwire Adds Additional Show Dates To Summer & Fall Tour, Releases “Mid-America Motel” Ft. Ram Dass [Stream/Listen]
Dirtwire has added a sling of new show dates to their anticipated Summer and Fall tour, including a headlining show at Salt Lake City, UT’s Soundwell on September 15th.
The psychedelic, world blues trance trio will embark on a three-month tour with Gone Gone Beyond and Blossomn, spanning 13 shows throughout the Midwest. The trio kicked off the new year with promising looks of getting back to playing live shows, and celebrated alongside Papadosio and Bluetech with a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in early June. Now, Dirtwire will hit the road on August 7th for their own headlining tour, celebrating with fans in New Mexico, Minnesota, California, Utah, Montana, Colorado, and Ohio after a year off the road.
While 2020 halted the music industry and regular touring efforts, Dirtwire spent more quality time in the studio, releasing their 17-track Crux. The momentum stuck with the trio into the new year, having just released a six-song EP titled Hjärta in collaboration with Swedish female vocalist Emma Lucia in early June.
Dirtwire reflects on the concept in Hjärta, posting on social media, “Part of the concept behind the Hjärta EP was our intention to create a brief but potent sonic psychedelic journey..an exploration of where the deep nordic folk traditions of Scandinavia might intersect with a spiritual trance experience..imagining what something like this might sound like.”
Additionally, the trio is featured in the newly released Soul Land Music Series: Volume 1, out today. Inspired by the life of spiritual teacher and cultural icon, Ram Dass, the music collection features Dirtwire on “Mid-America Motel,” while pioneering artists like Papadosio, East Forest, Trevor Hall, and more help showcase and honor Dass’ deep connection to music. The accompanying music video illustrates psychedelic and geometric visions swirling around visions of Ram Dass. Watch the official music video illustrated by live visual artist Johnathan Singer below.
“Mid-American Motel” – Dirtwire x Ram Dass
[Video: Baba Ram Dass]
“The Dirtwire/Ram Dass track was built off of a jam that was initially recorded at Echo Mountain studios in Asheville, North Carolina. We felt we had a match when we tried combining it with Ram Dass’s description of a powerful psychedelic experience he had in the Mid-America motel in Salina, Kansas,” Dirtwire posted on social media. “Something about the cyclical mystery of the harmonic progression and the sound of a vintage Telecaster through a vintage amp seemed to us to resonate with how Ram Dass speaks of the transcendental set within the familiar, both felt to us like expressions of a spiritual Americana that lies just below the surface of what this country believes itself to be. As we started to shape the music underneath Ram Dass’s story, we began to add new parts to underlie and support the narrative tension. We found that musically, at the point Ram Dass’s of surrender and ego death, the underlying tension of the guitar ostinato could rupture to support his realization – and through it an entirely new world of release and realization could be built.”
Stream Soul Land Music Series: Volume 1 below and on all streaming platforms here. Tickets to Dirtwire’s headlining show at Salt Lake City, UT’s Soundwell can be purchased here. For more information, visit the band’s website.
8.17 – Aztec, NM
9.04 – Clarks Grove, MN
9.11 – Perris, CA
9.15 – Salt Lake City, UT
9.17 – Missoula, MT
9.18 – Bozeman, MT
9.23 – Boulder, CO*
9.24 – Denver, CO*
9.25 – Ft. Collins, CO*
9.26 – Grass Valley, CA
10.10 – Joshua Tree, CA
10.15-16 – Newark, OH
*w/ Gone Gone Beyond and Blossomn