Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We have roads to travel upon; it’s how we explain the stories to those we meet along the way that is the key. One man’s pleasant trip down a leafy lane in the middle of spring with the sun at his back is another’s trudge through winter’s terminal grasp with nothing but the eyes of desperate and ravenous wolves reflecting the light of the dwindling fiery torch.

For Dan Webster, like so many of the classic British singer songwriters, the road travelled is both complicated by the appreciation of the moment and the displeasure of knowing that no mere word can ever truly capture life as it was at that second, for whilst The Tin Man may forever be in search of a heart on the road, Dan Webster has it in abundance and it shows with each passing song on his latest album.

The road is long, as they used to sing but it can carry the weight of the world as well and nothing brings out the best in Folk than to have lived the experiences that are being sang and The Tin Man offers glimpses into that world, even in the tremendous arrangements of old traditional songs, Spanish Ladies and When Johnny Comes Marching Home, the feel of someone’s life in the hands of a troubadour is to understand the heartbeat of someone you never will meet, it is to grasp an inkling of someone else’s story.

With contributions to the overall album from the likes of Rachel Brown’s wonderful cello, Lloyd Massingham’s guitar on the tracks Elvis and Gin, Grace Hawkins’ sublime vocals and Pip Joplin’s violin giving much pleasure, tracks such as Number 17, the excellent British Man of War and the stunning Old Friends, with its allusion to the Tin Man allegory in The Wizard of Oz, Dan Webster has released something very special in The Tin Man, a piece of music in which to try and understand another person’s journey and make a connection with it.

Your own road may be difficult, it could be as easy as being carried in a sedan chair, but it will never compare to someone else’s voyage through life unless you listen to it being told and appreciate its value.

Ian D. Hall