Some songs are evocative of a time and place through the singer’s voice; some through the music. Some have the entire package, so that you slip into the song and feel completely transported to that time and place – and this is the case with the new Americana single ‘Bring to the Dawn’ by Pete Campbell, which is having its premiere here today – and you can listen to it below in YouTube or Soundcloud. In this song, though, the place is within Campbell’s mind rather than being out in the world; the time is the start of the day, as the title suggests, as Campbell ponders early-morning thoughts and fears, before putting on a brave face to take into the day.
Says Campbell of the song’s development: ‘The song has existed as a solo acoustic number for a few years and I’ve been playing it live regularly. In the studio the contributing players were only given a brief on the feel I wanted. I just trusted the process and was really happy with what the track grew into.’
The lovely fiddle playing on the track is by Marcus Holden, whom Campbell discovered playing at the Salisbury Hotel the day before the first tracking session for the song, and there are equally lovely backing vocals by Maya Simmons. Marc Scully play bass, James Swanson is on drums and Paul Staddon on guitar.
In the 1990s and early 2000s Campbell was a lead guitarist in Sydney rock bands Brave and Crazy and Maryanne Rex Band. He then took a break from music before returning as a solo artist whose influences include Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, Neil Finn and Bernard Fanning. ‘Bring to the Dawn’ is taken from Campbell’s forthcoming EP, and you can also find it on Bandcamp.