Minneapolis is home to a lot of great music, there’s no denying that. One of the city’s latest contributions is Turning, singer-songwriter Dan Israel’s ninth album. By his own promotional material’s admission, Dan is not exactly a household name, although he has worked with some of Minnesota’s finest musicians. Giving assistance on Turning are Marc Perlman (Jayhawks), Dave Boquist (Son Volt) and Jessy Greene (is there anyone Jessy hasn’t played her violin with?), to name just a few.

As you may have inferred from the guest list, Turning is most certainly an Americana record. Dan sings in a very deliberate manner, with a voice caught somewhere between Greg Brown and Randy Newman, and his songwriting has earned him some local awards – most notably 2006 Songwriter Of The Year and 2005 Song Of The Year (Minneapolis Music Awards). The basic theme of the album is one we can all relate to – that although life can be difficult and uncertain, there is always some underlying hope to cling to. OK, so it sounds cliché, but the songs are good.

“Triangle” gently opens the album with a very stripped back Dan on vocals and guitar and Jessy Greene on violin. It also prefaces the album’s aforementioned theme: “I had some hope today, seems like I saw a ray, of how good it could really be/And then just for once, I was not hauling tons, and it felt pretty good to me“. Dan wastes no time in proving he can rock out some with the full-band, hand-clapping “Counting On You”, and his Randy Newman-ess takes center stage with the ragtime piano on “Occasionally”.

The album takes a political detour in “Song For Africa”, bemoaning the genocide in Darfur. It should be noted, too, that a portion of the proceeds from the sales of Turning will be donated to the American Refugee Committee (www.arcrelief.org) or Save Darfur (www.savedarfur.org). Immediately returning to happier subject matter, all you dads out there may feel a connectedness to “Never Go Away”, written for Dan’s little boy. The album starts to lag a bit with the last few tracks. At 48 minutes, Turning is not necessarily overly long, but it does contain 14 songs and may have been better served by shaving a track or two.

With his local awards and a 2006 SXSW Showcasing Artist appearance under his belt, Dan Israel may very well be headed for greater success. Turning is a solid album that could, and should, introduce him to a wider listenership.
76%

Links
Dan Israel [official site] [myspace]