Cd Isle...CDs by BC island recording artists

Horses and Hills, Allen Dobb's debut solo CD, takes us into a rich musical heartland, spanning folk, country/rock and soul. From the first raw, swollen bars of "Mirage", to the liberating pop refrain of "Magnolia", Dobb’s textured and expressive voice carries the listener over an earthy, but varied musical terrain. The acoustic guitar based arrangements are salted with mandolin, banjo, electric slide guitar, piano and haunting percussion.

These songs reveal Dobb’s highly detailed and often poetic sensibility: "Horses are standing all bunched in the corner/Steam riding their backs like ghosts in the morning," he sings in the moving "Forty-Five Years". Horses and Hills is a landscape of broken farms, wild west shows, travelling salesmen and backwater spirits. These are honest songs about living, loving and leaving.

The path leading to Victoria-based musician, Allen Dobb's latest CD, Bottomland (Skipping Stone/Pacific Music), has been a long and varied series of adventures. His quest has led Dobb from his youth in rural Alberta farm country, to several years in southern Africa using his agriculture degree from Washington State University and another land management stint on an Apache reservation in Arizona, to singer-songwriter showcases on stages of roots music hotbeds in Austin and Nashville. Dobb has documented his path of eclectic experiences with several recordings including a pair of CDs with his brother Cameron as Dobb and Dumela and 1998's Horses and Hills (Resource/Festival), his acclaimed solo debut.

Allen Dobb’s recently produced CD, Rosetown, conjures-up the Canadian landscape and even deeper, more personal realms.  Credit producer/engineer John Ellis, who also plays guitars, mandolin, banjo and pedal steel on Rosetown, for mixing an evocative soundscape that showcases Dobb’s well-crafted lyrics and hook-laden, eclectic music.