With his guitar and piano he will singlehandedly mesmerize the audience through a diverse set of sounds. Where he first was known as ‘Godfather of alt country’ he thereafter was crowned the ‘ambassador of desertrock’ . These attributes never stop him from going in a totally different direction musically. To name but a few his songs contain elements of rock, country, blues, garage, lo-fi, jazz, gospel and avant-garde. ‘Tuscon’, Gelb’s most recent album which honours his hometown, was labelled by Gelb himself as a country rock opera.
In the early days Gelb was compared to musicians like Neil Young, David Byen, Bob Dylan and Captain Beefheart. Nowadays it’s the other way around, other musicians are compared to Howe Gelb.
Dyzack
Local guitarist Erik Hoflan, or Dyzack, while working on his third album, decided to search for new inspiration after two studio albums, several astonishing shows both national and international that where received positively by the critics. His 2011 album ‘This Mangy Soul’ evolved around a dream Dyzack had in which his dad resurrected after he committed suicide. This dream is the recipe for an intimate and emotional album with a surreal twist.
