Danny and The Champions of The World
Danny and The Champions of The World is not so much a band as a loose collective of artists who come together to create a unique country/soul/folk sound, blending spirited, pedal steel-scored Appalachian folk with gospel-tinged choruses, sun-drenched West Coast harmonies, deep soul and deft touches of psychedelia. Their latest album, Streets of Our Time was released in January.
“It’s not a band, as such,” explains Danny, “it’s more like an open invitation to a group of friends. All sorts of people come and go, there’s no rules to it, I just tell them when the dates are, and sometimes 20 of them turn up to play, and sometimes just two. I’m completely bored of watching over-rehearsed bands just promoting their albums. We never rehearse, there’s a lot of spontaneity to it.”
After spending over a decade as a full-time touring and recording singer/ songwriter/ musician, Danny Wilson performed a set promoting his solo album, The Famous Mad Mile, at the 2007 Truck Festival, held at Hill Farm in Steventon. During the weekend, he recorded a track at the studio based on the farm, backed by a loose aggregation of members of Oxford’s Goldrush (whose Bennett brothers run the Truck Festival) and other musician friends. “We recorded one tune,” Danny says, “but it sounded so good we decided we had to make an album.”
Cut at the Hill Farm studio, that album, the very wonderful Danny And The Champions Of The World, was released in 2008. Immediately, Danny And The Champions began playing live, setting up a monthly residency at Brixton’s The Windmill for their Still Believe club-nights, an ongoing series of joyously messy evenings featuring performances and DJ sets from a hand-picked list of friends and kindred spirits, with Danny playing the headline slot, backed by his ever-changing group of Champions.
We can’t wait to see them play the Caught By The River stage on Saturday night.
www.dannyandthechamps.com
www.myspace.com/dannyandthechampionsoftheworld1
>> Click HERE to listen to Danny and The Champions of The World’s single, ‘Restless Feet’.
>> Right-click on the link above to download a *FREE* mp3 of the song to your computer
VIDEO:
Danny & The Champions of the World ‘These Days’
