From today’s b, the paper

When Gabe Dixon decided on the cover art for his band’s self-titled album, it was only fitting he chose legendary photographer Henry Diltz (Crosby Stills & Nash, Neil Young) to capture an image of a ramshackle house that looks like it could have been taken 30 years ago.

Rooted in piano rock, Dixon formed the group at the University of Miami. While drawing comparisons to Elton John and Jackson Browne, Dixon’s grand voice and honest, contemporary lyrics feel relevant, and could serve as a springboard for young fans to discover the golden era of ’70s rock ‘n’ roll.

The Gabe Dixon Band will release their self-titled album next Tuesday.

Although the new record isn’t your debut you feel like it is…

I do, I think it’s definitely the best record we’ve ever done and I think I’ve matured as a songwriter and we’ve matured as a band. The first album we did we were fresh out of jazz school and were doing something that didn’t get much of a push from our former label. We feel that this is the kind of opportunity to really introduce ourselves to the world.

On this new record you co-wrote all the songs, but you did enlist some help from a couple of Grammy award winners; tell us about that experience.

I used to do only solo writing except occasionally I’d write a song with my mom (laughs). But on this album there’s only one song I wrote by myself and all the rest I wrote with fantastic songwriters. It’s just as simple as a friend of a friend kind of thing, saying, “Hey, I got this guy Gabe Dixon he’d really like to write with you,” and they heard the music and said, “Yeah, I’d love to work with him.” So I flew up to Minneapolis to write with Dan Wilson on three songs. I wasn’t even that familiar with his music until I started writing with him and man I can’t wait to write for the next record.

And on the first couple tracks of the record, driving seems to be a bit of a metaphor, maybe a theme; is there something specific behind that?

I’ve gone through a lot of transitions between the last album and this one. Getting a deal with a major label when I was 22 was really great and I thought it would never end. [But] that didn’t work out for lots of political reasons and I was forced to fall pretty hard and all my ideas of myself as the greatest thing in the world were shattered and then I had an epiphany in North Carolina and realized I’m always going to be a songwriter and a singer, I’ll always be an artist whether I’m super successful or not and that’s something I can be really happy about. I think some that comes out in the music on this album.

Gabe Dixon will play live on Morning Sessions on the WTMD Morning Show today at 9am on 89.7 WTMD, public radio from Towson University.

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