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May 28, 2009

Gloucester's King to rule Landing

Music Notes

Dan King will travel "over the bridge" from his native Gloucester to the Landing Restaurant in Marblehead tonight to play an acoustic show with an all-star cast of veteran musicians.

The Dan King Band — made up of King on guitar and lead vocals, Dave Brown on lead guitar, Dave Mattacks on drums, and Wolf Ginandes on bass — will perform songs from its new CD, "Western Colors," for which King wrote all the music and lyrics.

Ginandes, of Framingham, is well-known in the Berklee College of Music community and often performs with the Parker Wheeler Blues Party at the Grog in Newburyport; Brown, of Gloucester, has played with Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel, and Dr. John; and Mattacks, of Marblehead, has performed and recorded with Paul McCartney, Fairport Convention and currently Rosanne Cash.

"I'm just thrilled to death every time I play with them. It's like taking a master class in music," said King, who also refers to the band as "KMBG" — King, Mattacks, Brown and Ginandes.

"Western Colors" is the first studio CD with this lineup of musicians, said King, who went solo in 1999 after stints in Cape Ann-based bands The Prolz and Pillbox. The quartet also recorded "Live at Captain Carlos" at the Gloucester restaurant in 2006.

The band plays "alt-country" music, "which is basically the new word for folk-rock," King said.

And there's a mix of musical styles on the new CD.

"It's alt-country, roots (and) rock 'n' roll — all my favorite elements," he said.

"Western Colors" is now available for download at itunes.com, cdbaby.com and amazon.com. The CD will be released on July 30, and the band will mark the occasion with two shows — at Atwood's Tavern in Cambridge on July 30 and Eliot's at the Blackburn in Gloucester on July 31.

The Dan King band will also play the Berklee Performance Center in Boston on June 22. King and company can also be seen weekly at venues around the region.

"(The band is) a tight unit now," King said. "There's not a lot of thinking going on, just playing."

¢¢¢

Staff writer Larry Claflin Jr. writes his "Music Notes" column regularly. He can be reached at lclaflin@salemnews.com.

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