While some artists hole up in the studio twelve hours a day for weeks on end, colorful country folk singer-songwriter Derek Dames Ohl is set to release his new album, Someday I’ll Be Happy (and Rule This World of Mine) on July 12th, 2024, after nailing each song in under two takes, a true testament to the rawness and realism that laces through each track.
Establishing the multi-dimensional effect of Ohl’s skillful plucking, “Satin Sheets,” a March single release and Willis Alan Ramsey cover, declares the tone as the album kicks off through soulful vocals, allowing his emotion to shine through the valleys and peaks of his dynamics. “I wish I was a millionaire / Play rock music and grow long hair,” he sings, much akin to a Blaze Foley or John Prine if not familiar with Ramsey’s folk style.
Sweetly melodic “Sugarloaf” marks the album’s fourth swinging country tune, deceiving for its saccharine feel. Sometimes love brings us the wrong person for the right reasons, and it seems those reasons aren’t yet so clear in this bluesy, regretful yet beautiful tune. Recalling a loathing lover’s disconnect, “Well I wish she just left me on Sugarloaf Hill / Where the birds sang my chorus and the wind kept me still,” cries Ohl while strumming away blissful riffs.
A slow-time honky tonk jive with a taste of electric, “Stupid Ain’t a Sin” stands tall on its own with its rolling tonality and relatable lyricism. Ohl’s ability to capture personal shortcomings in a witty and harmonious light has listeners turning their attention toward his passionate playing, supporting the lyrics as they pour sweet reassurance over the broken parts we’ve all got.
Lucky number seven brings the album’s “Standing Still,” classically honing in on the feeling of falling behind in a world moving oh-so fast. The tune stands on a love passed too soon; “Heart shaped scars living on the sleeve,” is the breathing undertone as reminiscent guitar speaks the lyrics best-put melodious.
Perfectly encapsulating this whirlwind of charming sentiment, “Someday I’ll Be Happy (and Rule This World of Mine),” acknowledges the good times of the past and those yet to be had, as childlike wonder leads the guitar playing through whimsical and floating riffs. Though in the trenches, Ohl sings of the certainty that lies in his ability to see better days, and candied sounds coming from his acoustic guitar present the listener with the same ambition.
Recorded at Broadway Music Studios in Ohl’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado, and mastered at The Bombshelter in Nashville, Tennessee, Someday I’ll Be Happy (and Rule This World of Mine) rings in Ohl’s second album. The old timey picker and grinner is expected at Rancho Del Rio, Colorado’s Yarmony Music Festival tomorrow, June 29th.
Though Ohl is a solo performer, there’s something communal about his ode to keeping the American roots traditions alive. As he travels the country, he’s keeping the ambivalent anxieties we all deal with in personhood simultaneously heavyweight and lighthearted over his richly timbred acoustic six string.
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