REVIEWS

Roots/Rock: Catching up with Frank Dean

Posted By Rob Nichols on Mon, May 9, 2011 at 8:59 AM

Want some attitude with your country rock? Indianapolis-based (well, Franklin, to be correct) songwriter, bandleader and longtime Hoosier Americana roots musician Frank Dean has led that pack of candidates for nearly 30 years.

He plays from the gut and heart as well as any musician, and has proven he will do what he wants, much in the way a Waylon or Merle or Hank Sr. might. Roots rock spun with snarly attitude. His influential bands Blue DeVille and Hillbilly Central gave way to Sindacato, and the most popular section of his career.

Ten years as the leader of that brilliant bluegrass/country/roots rock band supplied Dean the highs (album of the Year for Logan County from both the Indianapolis Star and NUVO; touring with his peer/heroes like Dwight Yoakam, Ralph Stanley, Marty Stuart, Del McCoury and Sam Bush), and the lows (the breakup of the same band after parting ways with longtime friend Gary Wasson; some critics who incorrectly thought the West Virginia-born Dean was a rocker selling out to play bluegrass)

His new band, The Snakehandlers, shifts Dean into a blues-based rock band. Their debut album, released earlier this year, was produced by Eric Lee Johnson at Indianapolis' The Pop Machine studios. Rock Plus Roll, according to Marc Allen's review from April in NUVO "leaves you feeling like you stumbled into a roadside bar and discovered an authentic, gritty blues band. You can taste the beer, smell the cigarettes, picture the packed dance floor."

NUVO: How's the Indianapolis music scene these days for guy like you?
Frank Dean: I don't have much good to say about the Indy Music Scene. Not that I ever have and that's always hurt me financially, but it's the truth. Clubs want free music with no effort or cost to them. They think putting you on their website page is promotion. And even if you have a bar that really digs you, they can't book you because they signed a contract with a booking agent that only books the people they have on roster. We've had clubs tell us how much they dig us but they're under contract with "you know who". The Booking Nazis. It's Miracle Whip on white toast. They'll go too far with that crap someday. Everything has consequences. Luckily, I'm at the place in my life where ass kissing is not gonna happen. Not that I was ever much for that.

NUVO: Any new music in your future?
FD: Always writing, it's still my number one thing. I'll have an acoustic solo recording coming out in fall. It's called "
Antique Finish. A very quiet and personal record.

NUVO: What do you have planned that excites you after so many years of playing music?
FD: This spring & summer is pretty dedicated to The Snakehandlers and promoting our new CD. Music is always exciting to me. And in the Snakehandlers, the audience has a lot of fun and of course, girls dance. Which is what rock and roll has always really been about.

NUVO: What have you been listening to recently?
FD: I really like a lot of what I hear from young writers & singers. But I have to search them out because I'm betting you don't hear them on the radio. How long can you listen to the freakin' Eagles anyway?

NUVO: When you record, how do you do it?
FD: Studio always. You can't make the recording at home that you can in a studio. And you need other points of views from folks. A producer's first and most important job (and I've produced dozens) is to save an artist from themselves.

NUVO: What's the next year hold for Frank Dean?
FD: I can't sit still - never could. I've got a few production gigs coming. And I'm talking to Andra Faye about producing a CD for her. Let Alligator Records realize what they let slip through their hands. They had the closest thing to Etta James under contract and did nothing. If this happens, it'll be killer.

NUVO:Anything we forgot?
FD: Music is the best thing this world has going for it so we should stop prostituting it with this Idol/X Factor/The Voice crap. It's vulgar and one more step in the dumbing down of America.

 





Sindacato Band leader Frank Dean is a believer in America, and his music is as vast and humble as a Frankfort cornfield. Their rootsy, traditional country sound has made fans of even the most jaded city dwellers and gained them respect among discriminating music fans throughout the state. They were bluegrass way before bluegrass was cool again. Their masterwork, Logan County, is a sprawling epic that was the top album of 2001, according to most local critics

The setting for Sindacato"s new bluegrass CD release party was fitting. The Artcraft Theater in Franklin is surrounded by pillared houses and brick storefronts built in a long-gone era. The 1920s movie theater is tattered around the edges, but is on the rim of a comeback. A band playing an old but reborn style of music couldn"t have picked a better venue.

Sindacato has played original bluegrass on the Indianapolis music scene for a half dozen years. On this hot Saturday night in June, they"re releasing their fourth CD, The Gospel Plow, filled entirely with gospel songs.

At first blush, Frank Dean doesn"t look like a songwriter of gospel music. Before the show, he lounges on a couch in the lobby of the Artcraft, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. His goateed, weathered face is topped with swept-back, shoulder-length hair. If you didn"t know better he might be a biker, a factory worker, a truck driver or the guy who kicked your ass in a bar last night. Instead, he"s the leader of Sindacato, arguably Central Indiana"s most talented bluegrass band.

Sindacato has done other big shows on the Artcraft"s old vaudeville stage, opening for Ralph Stanley, Dock Watson and Norman Blake, all legends in the world of traditional music. Though many listeners have come late to this style of music, thanks to the popularity of O Brother Where Art Thou?, Frank has been there all his life.

"I was born in West Virginia in 1953 and grew up around Appalachian music," Dean said. "As a kid I never heard Perry Como or Sinatra. Instead, I heard old time music and I always liked it. Appalachian Pipeline [Sindacato"s first CD] was an outgrowth of that."

But he"s not beholden to the national trend that"s found bluegrass. "To understand Sindacato is to know it"s about exploring music. The only constant is the art - first. We don"t cater to the trend. I"m never gonna try to write a hit song."

Dean laughs at the thought that he"s played both the Vogue and the Patio in each of four different decades. "I"ve never not been the leader of a band since 1975." One of those included Blue Deville, an R&B band.

Now the leader of Sindacato, he"s written music for four CDs. The first, Appalachian Pipeline, 1995, was all acoustic mountain music, influenced by the Carter Family and Doc Watson. Their second, a 1998 self-titled release, was an uptempo take on the same theme. Logan County, recorded in late 2000, was traditional bluegrass. The new CD is gospel. Though a consistent bluegrass thread runs throughout all four releases, Dean refuses to be pegged. "Hell, we might do an R&B album next," he jokes. "When I hear Sam Cooke singing, "Bring it on home to me," man, that kicks my ass. What more could you ask for in a song?"

All the great jobs

Though he"s the leader, Dean doesn"t dominate performances, most often quietly playing rhythm guitar and singing lead on roughly a third of the songs. Gary Wasson, an original founder of the band with Dean, plays bass and picks up vocals on another third. John Martin plays mandolin and his smooth tenor rounds out the rest of the vocals. Steve Woods is an accomplished banjo player who fills in on guitar and harmonica. Troy Seele is a sober-faced lead guitarist who routinely astonishes audiences with his unique, melodic, rapid picking style. Anchoring the rhythm along with Wasson is Carl LoSasso on snare drum.

If Sindacato has any detractors, they point to LoSasso"s snare drum. "The bluegrass crowd wants to preserve the sound," Dean says. "That shouldn"t mean you can"t make room for variety. But we"ve got a snare drummer, so to some people that counts us out. It doesn"t take much to irritate the bluegrass Nazis."

Dean is unapologetic. "If you could melt down bluegrass to two guys it would be Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe. They were mavericks. What they did originally bothered people because it didn"t fit the accepted norm of that time." Recently, Dean confronted a member of a local traditional bluegrass band, and asked why he didn"t like Sindacato. The answer: "Because you guys get all the great jobs."

The man was referring to the shows Sindacato has opened for legends like Stanley, Watson and Blake, not to mention other acts like Emmy Lou Harris, The Del McCoury Band, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle and Junior Brown.

Dean shrugs off the notion of envy, knowing it"s a comparatively good problem to have. "We"ve always been in demand, even before O Brother. Sunshine and Clear Channel have always supported us. We have kids, Deadheads and Phishheads and older folks who come to our shows religiously. And," he adds, "we"ve done four albums in six years and only had glowing reviews."

A half hour before the show starts, mandolin player and vocalist Martin relaxes in a theater seat at the Artcraft, looking at the stage as he talks. His round, friendly face is framed by long wavy black hair. Born and raised in Indiana, he"s played in a variety of bands.

"I once played guitar in a hard rock band but got kicked out because they said I wasn"t rock "n" roll enough." Martin is amazed by the odd places Sindacato"s music has taken hold.

"Miles of Music is selling our stuff and somehow, accidentally really, we developed a following in Italy." He"s particularly proud of the bigger crowds the band is seeing here in Indiana. "Our following is building," Martin says. "Still, as much as I like this new gospel album, I worry that the variety of music we play will hurt long-term fan growth. But Frank isn"t worried," Martin laughs. "Frank likes to say, "What Bill Monroe and the Stones have in common is they"re both good." Maybe that"s all that matters." The bespectacled and soft-spoken Wasson says. "John"s concerns resonate with me, but really the music ... the sound, isn"t much different from what we"ve done before. Gospel is just another strain of bluegrass."

And Wasson is quick to agree that the new CD isn"t filled with "praise the Lord" songs. "I think the songs are more to the point of what that pursuit in life is all about Ö searching for meaning and direction amid the horrible things that can happen."

Thicker than guitar pickers in hell

The large crowd filing into the Artcraft Theater is diverse. There are families with small children, college-age couples and elderly people. Band members mill around, greeting relatives and old friends. Mike Redmond, humor columnist for The Indianapolis Star and close friend of Dean, talks beneath an art deco light fixture. Redmond will play a part in tonight"s show.

Sindacato"s new CD, The Gospel Plow, replicates the format and sound of old Sunday morning gospel TV shows. Redmond acts as announcer, introducing the songs and filling in with mock commercials. The band recorded the entire CD in one night at the Pop Machine on Indy"s Northside. Each song was recorded using just one microphone, which they all gathered around.

Sindacato opens the show with an instrumental piece as Redmond welcomes the audience, addressing them as "The White River Township Women"s Christian Temperance Society."

Anyone expecting Bible thumping soon discovers that music and musicianship, in all their spiritual glory, are the centerpiece instead, expressed through songs written on a common theme: sin and failure, glory and redemption, soul searching and destinations. The whole is delivered with a comfortable, self-deprecating style. Throughout the show, Dean trades vocal duties with Wasson and Martin, easily stepping back to let them shine. Wasson"s understated, honest voice seems especially well-suited for Dean"s songs, gathering some of the biggest reactions from the crowd. Martin"s clear tenor is at home, too, piercing and plaintive in songs about loss and loneliness. In a bouncing, uptempo chorus, Sindacato"s voices unite, calling out, "Don"t cry for me, I"m going to Canaan." The harmony vocal high point of the show comes during a Staple Singers-influenced tribute to Pops Staple called "Walk Right Back," with Redmond helping out on bass - a singing lineup Dean jokingly refers to as "The Humidaires."

Between songs, Redmond provides comic relief with commercials for sham advertisers like "Sun Rise Dairy Products" and banters with Dean, teasing him about song titles like "Backsliding in Reverse."

Woods, Seele and Martin trade solos, fluidly blending banjo, mandolin and finger picking guitar with remarkable soulfulness. Woods and Seele are such unassuming bookends on stage that their solos arrive as joyous surprises. LoSasso"s snare drum so gently and precisely complements Wasson"s bass that you"re left wondering what all the "bluegrass Nazis" are complaining about. LoSasso squeezes a variety of moods from the snare, at times covering the drum skin with a towel and playing with brushes. All together, the six men remind the audience why Sindacato is widely considered one of the most technically proficient bands playing Central Indiana.



click to enlarge

Frank Dean knows what he's doing. His past bands — Blue DeVille and Sindacato — thrived by mining and updating the roots of American music. This time out, he attacks the blues, and he's got another winner in the Snakehandlers.

Their debut, the perfectly titled Rock plus Roll, leaves you feeling like you stumbled into a roadside bar and discovered an authentic, gritty blues band. You can taste the beer, smell the cigarettes, picture the packed dance floor.

These 11 songs all will sound somewhat familiar — such is the nature of blues riffs — but each one is marked by something distinguishing: Clint Crabb's sweet, smooth slide guitar; Bob Schneider's rolling organ and rollicking piano; Scott Parkhurst's howling harmonica; growled vocals by multiple band members. (Drummer Carl Lo Sasso, bassist Floyd Tucker and guitarist Dean complete the lineup.)

"Ain't Stayin' the Night," about a woman who cheats, sounds like what would have happened if Lowell George-era Little Feat and Eat a Peach-period Allman Brothers wrote a song together. "V-Twin Woman" brings to mind an old-timey version of "Crossroads"; listen to the tambourine and cymbal crash, which really enhance the sound.

Some songs weep (the best of them is "Face Down and Fallin'"), but most rock — especially the raucous "Daddy's Little Angel" and "My Cadillac," which has exactly the call-and-response chorus you'd want and expect.

Most of the lyrics here tread the usual ground of women, cars and misery. But there are some nifty twists. "Slip Into the Leather" adds a little S&M suggestiveness. "90 Miles an Hour" takes on the Madoffs, DeLays and other swindlers who've become public enemies over the past decade or so. And "Your drawers are all empty and clean/'cept the ones you got on," from "Ain't Stayin' the Night," is such a nice line.

Bottom line: Rock plus Roll is a fresh, thoroughly entertaining disc.



Say what you want about Frank Dean, but he doesn’t rest on his laurels. His roots band Sindacato remains among the most popular acts on a local original-music scene otherwise populated by alt-rock hipsters.

Rather than stick to a formula, however, the band has evolved in a series of interesting lurches. It began with contemporary folk, added some hotshot pickers to explore a bluegrass vein, then took a big turn with a gospel album recorded in the format of an old-time radio show.

Dean’s new album, … And Back Again, finds him once again stretching to realize some left-field vision, and finding the collaborators he needs to get the job done. The latest cast will host a release party at 7 p.m. Sunday at One-Liners Comedy Club in Greenwood. Admission is free.

Though released under Dean’s own name rather than the Sindacato brand, the disc relies on the band’s core members: bassist Gary Wasson, drummer Carl LoSasso and multi-instrumentalist Jon Martin. They step out of their usual roles, however, with Martin a particular standout on electric guitar. Joining them are Herb Clarkson on pedal steel guitar, Paul Ware on fiddle and harmonica and Middletown veteran Stasia Demos on accordion. The result could be called contemporary honkytonk, with world-weary lyrics and a spare, rhythmic sound that draws from folk, blues and rock.

In designing a new backdrop for his quavering baritone, Dean has traded mandolin and flatpicked acoustic guitars for twangy Fender electrics and the lonesome open spaces of the pedal steel. “There’s going to be some people who say, ‘This isn’t what I’m used to,’” Dean concedes. “It’s fun to watch everybody stretch out and work a little bit. I’m not taking it quite as seriously.”

The nearest antecedent might be ’70s outlaw country as personified by Waylon, Willie and the boys. It was that raw sound that first drew Dean back to country music after years as a rock ’n’ roll fan. “I think that’s when country music really made a big turn,” he said. “It kind of grew up.”

Dean and his cohorts enjoyed turning up the amps, letting down their standards and cutting loose on some material that wouldn’t fit well within the confines of Sindacato. The expectations can be stifling at times, he said. “We have fans who are more protective of that band than I am,” Dean said. “They expect it to be respectful and, for lack of a better word, highbrow.” On the new album, recorded at the Medicine Lodge studio near Franklin, two songs almost qualify as novelty tunes.

“You Walked Tall” is a combination tribute and wake-up call to Johnny Cash, with most verses created by stringing together Cash titles. Dean said he wrote the song more than a decade ago, when he was trying to break into the Nashville songwriting scene. In contrast to the critical acclaim Cash won in his final years, after stripping down his sound for producer Rick Rubin, the country music legend was being ridiculed at the time for a string of cheesy, overproduced recordings. The timing of the release now, not long after Cash died as a multigenerational icon, is a double-edged sword, Dean said. “I almost didn’t put it on the album,” he said. “I didn’t want people to think I was cashing in on the guy dying.” No pun intended, of course.

The other song that defies being ignored is “White People on Alcohol,” a Dean standard from his days with the band Blue DeVille. He wrote the song on a napkin while watching blues legend Yank Rachell watch a house full of poseurs at the Patio’s weekly blues jam. With its sing-along chorus and party flavor, the song became an ironic barroom anthem and an unavoidable staple of the band’s sets. “All these rednecks would stand up and raise their glasses,” said Dean, who recalls hearing another bar band cover the tune without even knowing its origin. “I swore it off. I just refused to play it.” The roadhouse blues number gets a workout from this band, however, led by the unearthly wail of Clarkson’s steel guitar running through a distortion pedal.

Other standout tracks, however, are notable simply for airtight craftsmanship and lyrics that ring with truth and wisdom. Tops among them is “Maybe Tomorrow,” a low-key country number that seems to be a sermon of encouragement from a seasoned former desperado to a struggling young man: I see you falling You’re right on the edge of the shelf And I know the feeling, ’cause I’ve done some stumbling myself Spinning in circles, wondering which way to go Maybe tomorrow things will look different, who knows?

Having turned 50, Dean feels entitled to offer advice. “Everybody’s younger than me now,” he said. But seriously, the tune is one of his favorites on the disc, as it seems to strike a universal chord. “At some point, I think we’ve all looked across that bar and you just know that person’s story,” Dean said. “You just want to walk over and say, ‘Hang in there.’”

… And Back Again also reprises some previously released Sindacato songs, including a roots-rock take on “I Should Go Back to Her” and new interpretations of “Since You’ve Been Gone” and “There Goes the Rainbow.”

click to enlarge

Frank Dean knows what he's doing. His past bands — Blue DeVille and Sindacato — thrived by mining and updating the roots of American music. This time out, he attacks the blues, and he's got another winner in the Snakehandlers.

Their debut, the perfectly titled Rock plus Roll, leaves you feeling like you stumbled into a roadside bar and discovered an authentic, gritty blues band. You can taste the beer, smell the cigarettes, picture the packed dance floor.

These 11 songs all will sound somewhat familiar — such is the nature of blues riffs — but each one is marked by something distinguishing: Clint Crabb's sweet, smooth slide guitar; Bob Schneider's rolling organ and rollicking piano; Scott Parkhurst's howling harmonica; growled vocals by multiple band members. (Drummer Carl Lo Sasso, bassist Floyd Tucker and guitarist Dean complete the lineup.)

"Ain't Stayin' the Night," about a woman who cheats, sounds like what would have happened if Lowell George-era Little Feat and Eat a Peach-period Allman Brothers wrote a song together. "V-Twin Woman" brings to mind an old-timey version of "Crossroads"; listen to the tambourine and cymbal crash, which really enhance the sound.

Some songs weep (the best of them is "Face Down and Fallin'"), but most rock — especially the raucous "Daddy's Little Angel" and "My Cadillac," which has exactly the call-and-response chorus you'd want and expect.

Most of the lyrics here tread the usual ground of women, cars and misery. But there are some nifty twists. "Slip Into the Leather" adds a little S&M suggestiveness. "90 Miles an Hour" takes on the Madoffs, DeLays and other swindlers who've become public enemies over the past decade or so. And "Your drawers are all empty and clean/'cept the ones you got on," from "Ain't Stayin' the Night," is such a nice line.

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