By Daniel Warren Hill
It’s probably a safe bet that at the time of this writing, North Wales recording artist John Evans has released over 100 songs under various project names since his commitment to music began at age 14. Various project names have included (but are not limited to): Redhill; The MK Band; and John Evans and the Imperials, as well as collaborations with (just to name a few) Peter Evans, Sarah Davies, Peter Jones, as well as John Sellers cofounded the Pigstock Music Festival with Evans and they produced in Denbigh from 1996 through 2005. For a time, Evans also supported Ed Sheeran collaborator and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Amy Wadge.
His latest offering, “Dream Of You” follows his 2022 full length album, Heart of Reason, and 2021 full length album, Getting There. It’s a love song that may be directed at Evan’s lifelong passion writing, performing, and producing music as it could be for any one individual:
“And If I had my time over again / I’d hold my head up high / love you like a friend / try to tell you how I wanted one last stand / try to open up my heart / try to understand / what this life meant to you / Baby Blue,” he sings.
Forced to revisit live music opportunities available during the pandemic, Evans utilized the opportunity to produce and release an assortment of new music, embracing whatever tools and technology were available to him to augment creativity while forming personal connections with fans from around the world.
The result has earned him 2,500 monthly listeners on Spotify alone, which Evans celebrates and appreciates thoroughly, though, in a recent interview with Alchemical, Evans clearly states that he is not naïve about where he is at this point in his career: “The only sensible thing really from my position, I suppose, to get recognition for my work, is to keep recording, keep writing, and maybe a publisher will come along and say, ‘We’ll yeah, we can do something with this song, or this album.’”
If publishers find their way to Evans the way fans have gravitated to his sounds rooted in folk, rock, and blues, then it may only be a matter of time before that deal is struck. “Dream of You” fits into a classic rock-sounding framework that might appeal to fans of Jackson Browne or Bryan Adams for Evans’ emotive and passionate performance under traditional instrumentation, complete with tasteful guitars that build up into the refrain.
“You keep me feeling strong inside / no matter what my foolish pride / Instead of telling my heart what to do / I just gotta get one more dream of you / to pull me through / one more dream of you.”
Enjoy the uplifting reflection that is “Dream Of You” below, or find it on the Alchemical Multigenre Mixdown on Spotify.
Daniel Warren Hill is an American musician, writer, and motivational speaker. He is best known as the frontman for Washington DC area Alternative Rock band YellowTieGuy, as co-founder of Capitol Groove Collective, and increasing the exposure of artists on a global scale through his work with Alchemical Records.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
