Dan Dugmore - Off White Album

Veteran steel guitar player Dan Dugmore had no one to please but himself on his first solo recording, the title of which signals that it is a collection of Beatles' songs. Dugmore spent the 1970s and '80s adding steel guitar to the country-rock songs of Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, as well as other pop musicians. Then, in 1990, he headed to Nashville, where he became a top session player in country music. But he remains a Southern California child of the '60s, and therefore the Beatles are his touchstone. Playing all the instruments himself, he has chosen 12 Beatles ballads and recorded acoustic and electric guitar settings, using the steel guitar to play the melodies. Dugmore's background makes him a relatively restrained steel guitarist; unlike traditional country players, he is not interested in overwhelming the musical picture with whining sound. He uses the instrument as if he were a singer with the nuance and delicacy of a Ronstadt or a Taylor. The world may not need another album of remade Beatles' songs, but this one is a labor of love, and that's what it sounds like.