Most of us, at least here in the States, grew up hearing about the famous “midnight ride of Paul Revere” in grade school, about the blacksmith turned Patriot who rode north from Boston to Lexington to warn that the “British were coming”. But I’m guessing few have heard of the midnight ride of William Dawes. That’s probably because most of us got our history lesson from the famous Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem “Paul Revere’s Ride”. In it, Longfellow takes some artistic liberties and makes Revere the only character in one of early American history’s most notorious tales. While Revere deserves much of the credit, there was another rider that night in April of 1775 who rode to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British were on their way to arrest them. William Dawes actually set out first and took the longer westward route, leaving Boston just before the British regulars sealed off the town. Both Dawes and Paul Revere arrived in Lexington within minutes of each other and helped Adams and Hancock escape arrest. So why has history forgotten poor William Dawes? We may never know…but it seemed only fitting, since we have a song about Paul Revere, to have one about William Dawes as well – here’s the short demo…(just click to listen or right click/cntrl click to download)
The Dimes – The Forgotten William Dawes (DEMO)
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and don’t forget, the new record is out and available via our online store – http://www.thedimes.com/store.html – it includes a bonus EP which accompanies the new album and includes the song “Paul Revere”, among others…
See you soon,
Johnny
This drawing by Ben Franklin was a popular image in Boston during the months leading up to the Revolution – for the Sons of Liberty, a rebellious group of Bostonians who orchestrated the Boston Tea Party, it became their calling card and principle message, and it inspired a new nation. It also had a hand in inspiring our new record…
We’re excited to have released “The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry” locally this past weekend (and a huge thanks to all who were able to make it out to the shows). It’s been quite the year finishing up this album and we’re thrilled to finally have the chance to get it out to you…thank you for being patient with us : )
If you’d like to purchase a copy of the new record, click here to go to our online store – you’ll notice there are many options…you can get the new record instantly via digital download, or order the physical CD and get the instant digital download free – we’re especially excited to have the album available in vinyl, and some packages even include a little bonus B-sides EP of songs from the “King” sessions that aren’t on the full record and won’t be officially released for another few months…click the album cover below to go to the store and see for yourself:
Thanks again friends – hope you had a great weekend and we’ll see you soon -
Johnny
We’ve been quietly tucked away in the rehearsal studio over the past few weeks, working on the show and adding more new songs, and very much looking forward to the CD release show weekend of Nov. 13th and 14th. One of my personal favorites from the new record is a song called “Abigail, Don’t Be Long” – the song was inspired by Abigail Adams, an amazing woman who spent many years apart from her husband during the Revolution and not only ran the farm and raised a family, she was an early advocate for Women’s Rights and an outspoken Abolitionist. This past weekend just happened to be the anniversary of John and Abigail’s marriage and now seemed like a great time to post the finished song Abigail inspired. We released an early demo for this song a while back, and while some of the initial parts and ideas were kept, we changed a few things and had a lot of fun adding little details here and there. Here’s the version that will appear on the new album, “The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry”, which we’ll be releasing in a few weeks – just click the link below to stream or right click to download the mp3 -
The Dimes – Abigail, Don’t Be Long (Click to Listen)
And speaking of the new album, we’ve had several very nice reviews of the record over the past few weeks – click the links below if you’d like to read what the bloggers are saying…
http://your-moment-of-zen.blogspot.com/2009/10/dimes-king-can-drink-harbour-dry.html
http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-dimes-king-can-drink-harbor-dry.html
Here’s hoping you have a great week and for those in the Pacific Northwest, we hope to see you soon – don’t forget to mark your calendars for the CD release shows…Friday, November 13th in Seattle at the Tractor Tavern, 9pm – and Saturday, November 14th in Portland at Mississippi Studios – 7pm early show (all ages), 10pm late show (21 + up) – see you then!
Johnny
In the spring of 1775, British troops were stationed in Boston and the ports had been closed in the wake of the infamous Boston Tea Party. On the night of April 18th, word spread across Boston that the British were on the move, crossing the Charles River on their way to Lexington to arrest two Patriots, John Hancock and Sam Adams, and to seize the weapons depot in nearby Concord. Dr. Joseph Warren instructed two men, William Dawes and Paul Revere, to ride north from Boston to Lexington to warn Hancock and Adams of the British plan – history has since forgotten poor Mr. Dawes, but the “midnight ride of Paul Revere” has become the stuff of legend…
“Paul Revere” was one of the first of the “Boston” songs and it’s a fun one to play. In so many ways this song shows a band in transition – it has elements of the “Silent Generation” sound, especially in the chorus and guitar work, but it also has little hints of the sound and style that would become “The King Can Drink the Harbor Dry“. We had a couple of folks ask us about the song last weekend in Seattle, so I figured I’d post the demo this week – just click the link below to stream it (or right click on a PC, control click on a Mac to download it) -
The Dimes – Paul Revere DEMO (click to listen)
Have a great rest of the week and weekend and keep in touch -
Johnny
