Richard Dobson – Hum of the Wheels

An expatriate Texan who now calls Switzerland home, Richard Dobson has a storied past, enough that he actually turned his life into an autobiographical novel a few years back. The Gulf Coast Boys documented Dobson’s mid-’70s days traveling in Texas and Nashville circles with like-minded songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Rex Bell (the namesake of Townes’ classic “Rex’s Blues”). Though Dobson never reached the level of notoriety (or, plainly, quality) of Van Zandt and Clark, he’s nevertheless managed to string together a fair career, with a dozen albums to his credit and a smattering of songwriting credits on other artists’ albums.

Hum Of The Wheels, his latest for Swiss label Brambus, is vintage Dobson, a rootsy blend of folk, rock and country that would sidle up comfortably alongside other literary-oriented Texas troubadours such as Ray Wylie Hubbard. Dobson’s not a great singer, but he knows his voice well, though it tends to fit the spoken-word ramble “Who Killed Jack Rabbit” better than swampy groove tune “It’s The Women Who Choose.”

Most of the tunes fall somewhere inbetween those examples in terms of tone and tempo, driven by confident picking from a handful of players (highlighted by co-producer Thomm Jutz on guitar and mandolin). Nothing on Hum Of The Wheels suggests Dobson is on the brink of breaking through to a new plateau as a musician; neither does it suggest he’ll be slowing down anytime soon.