Great news people! With an enormous response to his nine-date ‘Pieces Of Americana’ Tour earlier this year, Diesel – known as one of the hardest working men in rock n roll – has just announced 21 regional shows in support of his new album.
The new album, Americana, is set for release on Friday 1 July (through Liberation Music).
From April 2016, Diesel will head out to regional areas of the country in SOLO mode giving fans the opportunity to hear the tracks raw the way he first approached them but with the added experience of having just recorded Americana.
Diesel says: “I’m looking forward to stage two of the Pieces Of Americana tour where I’ll be getting to more regional areas and returning to some cities. It’s been a journey making the record whilst doing the first stage of the tour with band, and with the record now mixed and en route to mastering, I can exhale and roll out some of the other tracks in a solo setting. Hope to see you there!”
The story behind this upcoming album……
Americana is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues, resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw.
Americana, as defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA)
And so for Diesel (aka Mark Lizotte), an artist born in America and raised in Australia, the concept is certainly not foreign. In fact one could legitimately ask why it has taken ‘til now for Diesel to pay his musical respects to the artists that influenced his own musical stew on this new album – and tour – by putting his unique stamp on some classic songs.
“It’s such a broad term, Americana – it means different things to different people,” Diesel says. “From moving out here from America, then moving back and forth again … I wonder if I would have as much fascination and love for American music if I had just stayed in America all my life and never made it out to Australia? It’s safe to say I probably wouldn’t.”
And just to whet your appetite, Diesel will be releasing two songs prior to the album, and road-testing both tracks on tour…
‘Here Comes My Girl’ by Tom Petty (from Damn the Torpedoes in 1979)
“I remember hearing him on radio in the ’70s when we lived in Arizona. That’s a song I had a real attachment to from when I first heard the opening chords – they have this beautiful lilt to them.”
‘Queen Jane Approximately’ by Bob Dylan (from Highway One Revisited in 1965)
“What more can I say – guitar players like me just love Bob Dylan songs, going right back to Jimi Hendrix saying, ‘That’d be a good song to let a guitar go nuts on …’ (about ‘All Along the Watch Tower’)”.
DIESEL PIECES OF AMERICANA TOUR
Fri 29 Apr : Central Hotel | Shellharbour, NSW
Fri 06 May : Laurieton United Services Club | Laurieton, NSW
Sat 7 May : South West Rocks Country Club | Sth West Rocks, NSW
Fri 13 May : Nelson Bay Diggers, Nelson Bay, NSW
Sat 14 May : Panorama Lounge, Central Coast, NSW
Fri 20 May : Blues on Broadbeach | Gold Coast, QLD
Sat 21 May : Star Court Theatre | Lismore, NSW
Thu 26 May : Robertson Inn | Robertson, NSW | SOLD OUT!
Fri 27 May : Club Sapphire | Merimbula, NSW
Sat 28 May : Astor Hotel | Goulburn, NSW
Fri 3 Jun : Gateway Hotel | Geelong, VIC
Sat 4 Jun : Village Green Hotel | Mulgrave, VIC
Fri 10 Jun : Chelsea Heights Hotel | Chelsea Heights, VIC
Sat 11 Jun : Shoppingtown Hotel | Doncaster, VIC
Sun 12 Jun : York on Lilydale | Mt Evelyn, VIC
Thu 16 Jun : Sutton’s House Of Music | Ballarat, VIC
Fri 17 Jun : Sutton’s House Of Music, Ballarat, VIC | SOLD OUT!
Fri 24 Jun – Sun 26 Jun : Lizotte’s | Newcastle, NSW