At the beginning of 2010, Don joined Jesse Malin & the St. Mark’s Social and set out on the road with Gaslight Anthem and later Gogol Bordello to begin support of the new album. But soon the inspiration of new songs would begin to pour in, and after returning home, it was back to the writing process again at his wooded escape, Velvet Elk Studios. The “Western & Atlantic EP” was born of a week of isolation in a Portland recording studio called The Secret Society, with Don enlisting Colin Killilea (Yost/Pocketknife) and Marwan Kanafani (City Breathing) as multi-instrumentalists, Gregg Williams (Dandy Warhols, Sheryl Crow) on drums, and longtime songwriting partner and bassist Erik Olsen. The result is a what-you-hear-is what-you-get sort of affair, with everything being tracked live in a room...a highlight of which was an unlikely one-take cover of The Replacements “Here Comes a Regular.” Mixing was done in Charlottesville’s White Star Sound and at the Velvet Elk Studios. But what started out as one album, became two, and upon the release of the Atlantic & Western EP, Don is right back at work finishing the full-length “Magnificent Ram A”. Whereas “Western” is more along the lines of the eclectic soundscape that Don has become known for, “Magnificent Ram A” is it’s alienated older cousin. And so it goes.
Don has released three...check that...now four solo albums, the last of which was the well-received Photographs of 1971 (Velvet Elk Records), until his recent July 2012 release of The Western & Atlantic EP on Velvet Elk. His first two albums, “The Lonestar Hitchhiker (Universal/Kingcuts)” and “The Lonestar Companion (Velvet Elk Records)” were also well-lauded for their retro-twang storytelling.
Recent Press for Western & Atlantic:
From the EP's opener, the slide guitar driven Midnight Train to the final track, the intimate Carry On he touches base with Jeff Tweedy and Howe Gelb. Television Sun starts like an outtake of Neil Young's Harvest Moon before evolving into a road movie theme song that could have been written by Steve Earle. - Here Comes The Flood
Mesmerizes and enlightens. - CD Insight
I know what I like, and I like his new EP "Western & Atlantic", coming out next week on the excellently named Velvet Elk label. - 27Leggies UK
DiLego is cut from the same cloth as performers like Wilco and the Avett Brothers—his songs take country ballads one step beyond their obvious conclusion, yielding a genre-bending hybrid of indie rock and country. - Examiner.com (Elizabeth Rowe)
The seven songs on this EP can qualitatively be with the best americana we’ve heard this year...an album on Jayhawks/Jeff Tweedy level. - Heaven Magazine (Netherlands)
Dreamin'
Don DiLego Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And it's open to the world
You can read it for yourself
Then tell me what it's all about
Tell me what do you think
Then put it back on the shelf
Turn on the radio, turn on the radio
Cause there's something in the air
But I say, you've never been awake
And until you open your eyes
Well then you might be surprised
To find me on my way
There's a speaker in the road
Who's preaching to the world
You can listen for yourself
And tell me what he's talking about
So how much would it take
To get you to think for yourself?
Turn on the radio, turn on the radio
Cause there's something's in the air
You said that you were only dreaming
But I say, you've never been awake
And until you open your eyes
Well then you might be surprised
To find me on my way
Turn on the radio
Cause there's something on the air
You said, that you were only dreaming
But I say, you've never been awake
And until you open your eyes
Well then you might be surprised
To find me on my way
Yeah, you'll find me on my way
Yeah, you'll find me on my way
In "Dreamin'" by Don DiLego, the lyrics imply a message about self-reflection, independent thinking, and breaking free from apathy. The song urges the audience to read the Bible, listen to the singers on the road, and question what they hear to form their opinion and develop individuality.
The phrase "you said that you were only dreaming, but I say, you've never been awake" seems to be a call to wake up from the slumber of conformity and start thinking for oneself. The singer is inviting the listener to break the bonds of conformity and apathy and to find the courage to pursue individual paths.
The line "turn on the radio, 'cause there's something in the air" suggests that there is a need to pay attention to the things happening around us, and this could mean breaking from the world's ordinary routines to embrace change, truth, and new ideas. By opening one's eyes and mind, they might "be surprised to find me on my way," which means finding themselves starting to make their own individualistic choices.
Overall, Don DiLego uses "Dreamin'" to encourage everyone to break free from the mundane, to seek truth, and to find their individual paths in life. By listening to various voices around us and learning to think for themselves, we can avoid blindly following the masses and create our unique futures.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a bible in the road
There's something worth reading that's been left for you to discover
And it's open to the world
It's accessible to everyone without any restrictions or limitations
You can read it for yourself
You have the opportunity to learn and understand it by yourself
Then tell me what it's all about
Let's discuss and share our interpretations and opinions
Tell me what do you think
I'm curious to hear your perspective and insights
Then put it back on the shelf
After our conversation, you can leave it where you found it for others to discover
Turn on the radio, turn on the radio
Let's listen to what's being broadcasted through the airwaves
Cause there's something in the air
There's an intangible energy or feeling that we can sense
You said that you were only dreaming
You claim that all of this is just imagination or fantasy
But I say, you've never been awake
I think you're ignoring reality and not paying attention to what's really happening
And until you open your eyes
You need to start perceiving the world around you with more awareness
Well then you might be surprised
You might be amazed by the things that you discover once you're more open-minded
To find me on my way
You might see me leaving, moving forward with my life and goals
Contributed by Kaitlyn E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.