Red Dirt-Red Dirt (1970)

Red Dirt was a British band formed in the late 1960s in Yorkshire, northeast England. They built a strong reputation for their spectacular concerts in clubs and pubs across the north of the country during 1969 and 1970. The band consisted of guitarist Kenny Giles, drummer Steve Jackson, bassist Kenny Giles, and the powerful vocals of Dave Richardson. Thanks to their success and the popularity of these concerts, they attracted the attention of various record labels, eventually signing a contract with the independent label Morgan Bluetown. With Morgan, they recorded their only album, which was distributed nationally by Fontana Records, albeit in a rather limited way and with minimal advertising. This single album was recorded at Morgan's London studios, where they spent twelve uninterrupted hours completing the recording and mixing. Composed of a series of songs focused on blues rock with hints of The Doors and The Magic Band, as can be heard in "Death Letter", "In The Morning", and "Problems", while the more rural sounds of Mississippi Delta blues are present in "Song For Pauline". On the other hand, "Ten Seconds To Go" and "Death Of A Dream" showcase a heavy blues rock side, and this dark album ends with the Hendrix-esque "Maybe I'm Right" and the boogie-rock track "I've Been Down So Long". Some time later, after finishing a tour across Great Britain supporting Mott The Hoople, the band returned to the recording studio for a second album that was never officially released and was later included as bonus tracks in a 2010 reissue of their only album on CD and vinyl. This single release is another of those LPs coveted by collectors, some of whom have paid small fortunes for an original copy of this obscure and lost Red Dirt record.