Gabe Dixon

Harry Nilsson famously sang, “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do.” For Gabe Dixon, one is quite possibly the most liberating number. On his debut solo album, One Spark (Fantasy/Concord Music Group) Dixon flexes a newfound muscularity in tone and texture – delivering the most personal and rewarding music of his young career. For a decade, Dixon helmed the critically acclaimed The Gabe Dixon Band; originally formed as a quintet at the University of Miami and last heard on record as a trio on their 2008 self-titled release for Fantasy Records / Concord Music Group. The album earned accolades from Paste, The Village Voice, American Songwriter and Performing Songwriter among many others, and virtually the entire album was licensed for use on primetime television. But, in the Autumn of 2009, when the band exited Seattle’s Benaroya Hall stage to a standing ovation, it would no longer be “The” and “Band,” but only Gabe Dixon. 

OFFICIAL SITE  ::  MYSPACE  ::  FACEBOOK  ::  TWITTER

Just one month off the road, Dixon’s mind quickly turned from bringing a crowd to its feet to putting a baby to sleep, becoming a father for the first time. The odd waking hours of a young dad were filled with a flood of new musical ideas that would ultimately become One Spark and set the stage for an unexpected call from producer Marshall Altman (Matt Nathanson, Kate Voegele, Marc Broussard). “I was in the midst of a baby haze, but I kept getting song ideas, and I began thinking seriously about making another album. Around the same time, I heard through the grapevine that Marshall was interested in working with me.” Says Altman: “I’d become more than a little obsessed with Gabe’s voice over the prior year. I’d listened to his last album on almost a daily basis, and his songs became a source of creative inspiration for me. Just a pure emotional current running through them that reached me, as clearly as any of my favorite music ever had. I was mid-sentence, telling my wife how badly I wanted to find an artist ‘like Gabe Dixon’ to produce, when she stopped me, and said ‘why don’t you just find Gabe Dixon?’”

Those highly familiar with Dixon’s previous work may be surprised by his accomplishment with One Spark. All of Dixon’s prodigious talent has thickened into a powerful collection of masterful songwriting and performance, giving us as pure a listening experience as we’re likely to find. These songs proudly wear their heart on their sleeve, conveying very human emotions, the things we all want and need but often remain just out of reach: connection, romance and the courage to follow our dreams. Musically, his singular gift is melody, each track deeply-rooted in finely hewed tunefulness, giving his honey-toned tenor the appropriate space it needs to deliver his reflective, thoughtful intent – so rare for a young writer. Like Paul McCartney, who admired Dixon’s gifts enough to offer him a position in his band, Dixon knows how to take you by the hand and dance, be it a romp or a romantic embrace. Immediate but lasting, fresh yet familiar, One Spark is the milestone first step in the next chapter of Gabe Dixon’s musical legacy. And as album opener “Strike” promises that “one little spark can make a thousand more degrees,” One Spark promises that Gabe Dixon will be striking a chord with listeners for many years to come.