Kat Danser - One Eye Open (2021)

'One Eye Open' continues Danser's ongoing collaboration with veteran guitarist and Black Hen Music producer Steve Dawson.

There is a trail that runs from the dead heat of the Mississippi Delta, through the winding alleyways of Havana, to the smoky confines of a cigar club in Edmonton. Kat Danser has spent most of her life trawling the backstreets of the blues and her sixth album, 'One Eye Open', reflects the fruits of her explorations. From an old string band melody passed down from the twenties, to a lyric written the night before the Covid pandemic shut the world down, the past rides shotgun with the present on everything Kat sings and plays. 'One Eye Open' broadens her decades long conversation with the blues and is a testament to the enduring emotional power and relevance of the art form.

Featuring an ensemble of North America's finest roots musicians; the core band, Dawson (guitars), Gary Craig (drums) and Jeremy Holmes (bass) were not able to record in the same room together, live off of the floor as is their preference, but as a concession to the times we are living through had to assemble the album remotely. Yet, even with Kat recording her vocals in Edmonton, and other musicians located around the continent while Dawson directed traffic from his studio in Nashville, the results are as organic, intuitive and in the moment as anything these veterans have ever recorded.