Don Yancey : Vocals, Guitar

Base of operations: Phoenix, AZ

MP3s at www.myspace.com/dsyancey

Biography:
D.S. Yancey, trucker and troubador, has a big love for this country and its people. With a job that takes him coast to coast and border to border, he is always supplied with plenty of writing material. He's known to stop in a big city to play a show or a small town for an "open mic" any time he gets the chance. Raised on country-western and coming of age on punk rock music, this artist has given a face and sound to a style of music that has become almost forgotten. Not the song or structure, but the backbone of the work. An observers take on something happening at the moment in an isolated area or in this case, across the country. But at the end of it all, be it a love song or a social commentary, all lyrics and all chords, forged in truth and social uncertainty, will lead to yet another testament for which D.S. Yancey is well known.

Similar artists: Ted Leo, Billy Bragg, Tim Barry, Chuck Ragan

Discography:
V/A "Ten Years Of Thinker Thought" Thinker Thought Records 2011
"Salt The Earth & Fill Your Hands" Thinker Thought Records & Radio Check Records 2011
"Lonely Riders" Thinker Thought Records 2008 (digital re-issue)
"Lonely Riders" Radio Check Records 2006


D.S. Yancey - Download printable press photo 1 (2736 x 3648 jpeg)


D.S. Yancey - Download printable press photo 2 (3648 x 2736 jpeg)

THI 987 - D. S. Yancey "Salt The Earth & Fill Your Hands" 12-song download
RELEASE DATE: January 18, 2011
PDF Press Kit
Download printable cover art (1500 x 1500 jpeg)

Track Listing:
SALT THE EARTH
1. To Be Your Man
2. Eli Merchison
3. Barstow To Vegas
4. Bradshaw Mountain
5. Tumbleweed
FILL YOUR HANDS
1. Pin
2. Imperial Prayers
3. Then I Cried
4. Maricopa County Line
5. Heal
6. I Need Some Justice
7. Big Hearts

Press:
"So, who the hell is D.S. Yancey? Well, he’s a trucker. Actually, he’s a trucker with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, so I guess that makes him a blue collar troubadour of sorts. He’s the kind of bare naked and broken folk singer who tells stories of love, loss, and the people and places who fill the American landscape. Salt the Earth & Fill Your Hands, the Phoenix singer’s second album, is a musical travelogue, a bittersweet scrapbook filled with heroes, losers, Jesus, hard times, bad luck, the rape of the land, life on the road, and the belief that the oft-dismal pursuit of the American dream means just gettin’ by as best you can. The songs ramble with a country n’ punk soul, Yancey’s voice straining with the emotion of a man who’s seen it all but is still struggling to understand it, and, despite their occasions of misanthropy (or perhaps because of them), provide an abundance of comfort in their dusty truth. If he hasn’t yet, Yancey really ought to be mentioned in the same breath as singer/songwriters like Tim Barry, Chuck Ragan, Cranford Nix, and Jay Bennett. D.S. Yancey, then, is a trucker with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, headed down the highway that leads to glory." - Jeff of Broken Beard

"Heartfelt Americana: D.S. Yancey is a proud American that has traveled from coast to coast as an observer and a collector of stories from the heartland.  With an acoustic guitar in his hands and nothing but his voice, he belts out folk stories of people and places that he has seen, most of which describe humble times in modest conditions.  Yancey is a truck driver and troubadour that has logged thousands of miles and compiled a journal of the average man's lifestyle, finding individuals that have touched him deep in his heart.  The stories are interesting, as he exerts himself throughout the double EP, and listeners will find themselves riveted to the tales while his voice strains and almost cracks under the pressure of the tales he spins.  Yancey is not a great singer, and many of the tracks exhibit his limited range and his difficulty with basic rhyme and meter.  But that doesn't make it bad or any less memorable.  The recording quality of the album give it a crisp live feeling, with some songs adding light percussion, harmonica, banjo, and even a few fleeting moments of rock guitar.  Sounding like it was recorded in a living room or in a local bar, this disc hits home loud and clear, even if you find yourself at a distance from the road stories as you sit in the comforts of your isolated abode.  7/10" - Joseph Graham of Outburn Magazine #57

"Finally, from nearby Oklahoma City comes DS Yancey with his double album ‘Salt The Earth & Fill Your Hands’. Tracing the course of punks turned “songwriters” – Bragg, Leo, Ragin – Yancey sounds more peripheral, not charged with some duty to reinvent but to “tow the line” as it were. The disc alone is worth picking up for “Eli Merchison” (hopefully to be respected with a solo release to vinyl), a forceful, emotive melodrama folklore educated in Cormac McCarthy detail and John Ford soap opera. It rides hard, sticky with sweat and scrapped off blood, yet alternates focus from primitive force to moral posturing. Unfortunately playing second, the hugeness and brutality of the song overpowers other very good instances of composition like “Barstow to Vegas”, “Bradshaw Mountain” and “Imperial Powers” – those tracks which put nostalgic reconstruction over a blue-collar romancing which feels painted on. The point is made well enough in the stories told." - Animal PSI

Track Listing:
1. Roll Baby Roll
2. Summer Is Gone
3. Lonely Riders
4. Remember Yesterday
5. Lift The Night
6. Love Is A Ghost
7. Mending My Fences
8. Knew My Place
9. Nobody Is Suffering

Press:
Coming Soon!