Richard Davies & The Dissidents - Human Traffic (2020)

After years as a collaborator, gun for hire and band member most notably with The Snakes and Tiny Monroe - guitarist Richard Davies returns front and centre on Human Traffic. The first album to feature Richard as lead vocalist and principal songwriter. Human Traffic was recorded during 2019 in Wiltshire, and features appearances from old friends including Tim Emery (Case Hardin, Last Great Dreamers) on bass guitar and Chris Cannon (Mega City Four, The Snakes) on drums. With a wealth of experience between them, Richard and the band gel perfectly on a set of confident songs evoking at times the anthemic, emotive and street-savvy blue-collar rocknroll of such classic albums as Darkness On The Edge of Town and Yo Frankie. The first video, Lay Me Low finds the band working around a new arrangement of an old Shaker hymn, first written down in 1838. Heartbeat Smile, is a cover of a song by Alejandro Escovedo, while Under The Skin is recalled from the Tiny Monroe days. Richard began his career with indie band Tiny Monroe in the 90s, recording several singles, an EP and an album for London Records, touring with The Pretenders, Radiohead and Suede and appearing at the Glastonbury, Reading and T in the Park festivals along the way. Following this, Richard recorded three albums with The Snakes Songs From The Satellites, Sometime Soon and The Last Days Of RocknRoll - as the band became major players on the UK Americana scene, picking up mainstream national airplay from the likes of Bob Harris and Mark Lamarr.