South African Musician
The highly-rated “Headlight Dreams” album was released today, one year ago! Produced by Kevin Shirley and featuring the legendary Joe Bonamassa on the track “Wind In Your Hair”.
When we got to Ellis Park that afternoon the stadium was heaving with 110 000 South African music fans packed in across the turf, throughout the stadium and up on the roof!
Juluka and Johnny Clegg held that crowd in the palm of their hands, and then the whole place erupted in joy when Lucky Dube came on. He channelled the love running through everyone that night.
”I love this man”, I heard someone scream, as the place rocked to the deep pulse of rhythm and sound, bonding 110 000 people as one.
Steve Louw, December 2021
The official video for “Don’t Wait”, created by Jacqui van Staden
From the album “Headlight Dreams“, released 7 May 2021.
Produced by Kevin Shirley.
Stream/download “Headlight Dreams”:
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THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG
The chorus says it all:“Don’t leave it too late (don’t wait)
‘Til you’re standing in front of hell’s gates (don’t wait)
With a pocket full of loose change (don’t wait)
Feeling lost and strange”Time is moving and so are you – but it’s never too late to get to where you want to go . . .
The song’s about someone on a strange road trip out on roads far from the mainstream, though glimpses of towns keep showing themselves. Reflecting on what he’s been and wished he hadn’t seen, he heads into town . . . and leaves again, back on track. It’s about how we hold our destiny in our own hands, how it’s never too late to be your dream, and how if you don’t stop, you keep moving forward.
Steve Louw
DON’T WAIT
(Recorded February 29, 2020)
You can call me Ace or you can call me King
If I can find a place that’s out of this wind
Draw you a map, I’ll explain
That the road back may be filled with pain
Don’t leave it too late
‘Til you’re standing in front of Hell’s gates
With a pocket full of loose change
Feeling lost and strange
If I’m a shadow of my former self
Well, I’m still better off
Than being someone else
I’ve seen people do things
That they can’t explain
I’ve seen bad and good
Even seen dry rain
Don’t leave it too late
‘Til you’re standing in front of Hell’s gates
With a pocket full of loose change
Feeling lost and strange
This concierge looks more dead than alive
Says the only way out of here is when it’s bone dry
Think I’ll drop a gear down into four-wheel drive
One thing’s clear, it’s just great to be alive
Don’t leave it too late
‘Til you’re standing in front of Hell’s gates
With a pocket full of loose change
Feeling lost and strange
The official video for “Train Don’t Run”, created by Jacqui van Staden. From the album “Headlight Dreams“, released 7 May 2021.
… my favourite track on this album is the almost proggish “Train Don’t Run”. Clocking in at seven and half minutes this is an epic tune that you hope never finishes. There is a soaring guitar solo by Rob McNelley that David Gilmour fans will love. No surprise to discover that this track was mixed on the same console as the classic “Dark Side Of The Moon“.
Brian Currin
Headlight Dreams review on AllMusic.com
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My grandfather was a railroadman and in the 1930s my father rode trains looking for work. To me, trains symbolise our attempts to bend nature to our will – and we’re seeing that trying to do that will never work. Silence will always return to the plains, the wind will blow, tracks will crumble and the earth will breathe again. This song has the wide open plains in it; dry cracked earth and a broken land.
The song builds from a driving acoustic guitar and hypnotic bassline to a haunting guitar solo by Rob McNelley. The production (by Kevin Shirley) brings out the relentlessness of the song and of what we inflict on our planet.
Steve Louw
The wind blows across empty plains
That hold so many bones
The rails glow years since the rain
Horses roam on broken stones
Train don’t run round here no more
Train is gone for us all
Put down a coin on the track
Saw silver turn through black
Seeds thrown all come back
Haunt the earth broken and cracked
Train don’t run round here no more
Train won’t come for us all
I can help you cross if you’ll let me
Spirits roam across this broken land
What’s been lost you can see
Count the cost can’t understand
Train don’t run round here no more
Train is gone for us all
1 (2) STEVE LOUW FEAT. JOE BONAMASSA – WIND IN YOUR HAIR
2 (3) BILLY INGLISH – TIME TRAVEL
3 (1) KENNY HUGHES – RUN ALONG
4 (6) STEVE UMCULO – YOUR EYES THROUGH MINE
5 (7) IMAGE AND NATION – RIVERS AND DREAMS
6 (8) CECE VEE – WILD HEARTS
7 (4) SPRINGBOK NUDE GIRLS – FLASHLIGHT
8 (10) ANGRY SPANISH – IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU
9 (12) KAHN MORBEE – ALL THE BEAUTY
10 (5) 4AM – OUR PEOPLE
My grandfather was a railroadman and in the 1930s my father rode trains looking for work. To me, trains symbolise our attempts to bend nature to our will – and we’re seeing that trying to do that will never work. Silence will always return to the plains, the wind will blow, tracks will crumble and the earth will breathe again. This song has the wide open plains in it; dry cracked earth and a broken land.
The song builds from a driving acoustic guitar and hypnotic bassline to a haunting guitar solo by Rob McNeeley. The production (by Kevin Shirley) brings out the relentlessness of the song and of what we inflict on our planet.
Steve Louw
Steve Louw 