A songwriting challenge produced many of the tracks on Wicks’ new album, which officially gets released Sunday. He was a guest for Local Spins on WYCE, which also debuted new tracks by regional artists.
New Album: Dale Wicks, left, will perform with a full band at his Sunday CD-release show.
THE MUSIC: Acoustic singer-songwriter
WHERE YOU CAN SEE HIM: 2 p.m. Sunday at Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids (with Ars Nova and Emma Loo & Sam)
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Back in 2012, Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Dale Wicks set an ambitious goal for himself: Write 40 new songs in a year.
He accomplished his mission, though it took a few more years before one-quarter of those tracks would eventually see the light of day on a studio recording.
Full-Time Musician: Dale Wicks performs regularly throughout West Michigan.
That indie folk-rock album, “Only Passing Through,” officially gets released on Sunday at the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids when Wicks and his band, The Bad River, will play a 2 p.m. CD-release show that will also feature sets by Emma Loo & Sam and Ars Nova (which is releasing a single the same day).
“Part of the reason why it took so long is I was learning how to use all the equipment. I had a lot to learn about recording,” Wicks says of the digital tools and gear he utilized for the four-year project, a time period during which he also quit his office job to become a full-time musician, finished and released 2013’s “Someone Else’s Songs” and moved four times.
“I was also getting myself acclimated to playing all the shows I was doing.”
Indeed, Wicks and his engaging voice have become familiar fixtures on West Michigan’s live music scene, with the singer playing venues across the region mostly as a solo artist and occasionally with accompaniment, such as guitarist Eric Boyea.
Wicks and Boyea visited WYCE-FM on the first day of the radio station’s fund drive for the most recent episode of Local Spins on WYCE, performing two songs on the air – “To the Water” and “Let’s Stand Up Together.” Listen to the full podcast here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE with Dale Wicks
A multi-instrumentalist, Wicks played nearly all of the instruments on the new album – which he describes as “hopeful and reflective” – with the exception of pedal steel guitar on several tracks and Boyea’s guitar work on the song, “Cruel.”
And because only 10 of the 12 tracks from Wicks’ 40-song challenge appear on the new album, Wicks says he has plenty of material left for more projects, including a full-band recording that’s next on the docket.
“I don’t get out there that often with a band,” he says, stressing that this could change after he completes and releases the next album.
The seeds of Wicks’ career in music were sown as a youth: At age 14, his father taught him how to play bass and a week later, he was playing in church.
He now teaches guitar at Meyer Music in Grand Rapids, an extension of his work as a musician that “really kind of made me think about my playing,” he concedes. “I got much better at counting and reading music.”
For more about Wicks, visit his website at dalewicks.com.
The 109th episode of Local Spins on WYCE also featured the debut of new tracks by West Michigan acts Lambo and Paucity as well as music from Five by Five, Seth Bernard, Big Dudee Roo, Organissimo and Joe Shields.
To donate to WYCE during the fall fund drive, visit wyce.org.
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC
