I don’t know why this guy isn’t huge, or at least a cult sensation. Dirk Michener, the brains behind Cavedweller, has been making cool, down-tuned acoustic blues that stick with you in a mellow sorta way since 1994. 2016 II & III was my introduction to this guy’s work, and I’m a believer. There’s very few frills, and absolutely no flash, to Michener’s work. He settles into a groove, and mines it for all it’s worth.
Michener specializes in lightly distorted, heavily reverb’d lo-fi blues that I hesitate to to call country only because that word conjures up images of Garth Brooks in a lot of peoples’ minds. Yet this is country, in a good sense: music for driving down a desolate, lonely highway somewhere deep in the American heartland, with nothing but your memories, heartbreak, and Dead Moon tapes to keep you company. “Kevin grows Gills,” despite being about that wretched Kevin Costner flick Water World, hasa ghost town vibe all its own; “Stacy” is a jangly, bittersweet ode to.
You get the idea. This is a record for the long morning after New Year’s, when you’re sitting around your apartment, gutpit depressed, facing another new year with not a whole lot of options and even less faith in the world around you. Slip it on and focus on the groove. Michener’s such a nice guy, you can download it for free, but really you should buy it!
