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Dana Gillespie’s affair with the blues shows not the slightest
sign of flagging. Who could have predicted it would be in her
sixth decade of music-making that she’d be creating her finest
work? So far, 2021 has been a banner year for the 72-year-old
personality. It began with the publication of her memoir,
Weren’t Born A Man. This was followed by a successful
YouTube reboot of her popular radio show, Globetrotting With
Gillespie. The memoir, co-written with David Shasha, is a full
account of Dana’s remarkable life, from her folk singles on Pye
Records and her late 60s albums for Decca to her pivotal role
in the original London cast of Jesus Christ Superstar and her
memorable explosion onto the glam scene as part of the
Bowie/DeFries/MainMan/RCA empire, her side-sojourns in film,
and her long-lasting union with Ace Records as one of the
UK’s leading blues artists.
'Deep Pockets', the follow-up to 2019’s 'Under My Bed', is a
collection of 12 Gillespie originals, mostly written with long-
standing lead guitarist Jake Zaitz. It is a reflective album, born
of Covid lockdown: 'The moment the first one happened and
everyone was in a state of doom and gloom and nobody went
anywhere, I was on my own and began writing lyrics.'
If ever there were a Gillespie mission statement, it could be
encapsulated by ‘Beat Of My Own Drum’. 'I feel strongly that
all through my life I’ve danced to my own beat,' says Dana,
'not to some commercial one.' Meanwhile, ‘The Truth About
Lygni’ is a song she could only have written now. Coming from
a new artist, it might simply sound reproving, but from
someone who’s really lived, its unequivocal warnings about
the corrosive effects of dishonesty are chillingly plausible.
Although there are moments that touch on loss, such as the
haunting elegy ‘Now You’re Stardust’, the overall guiding spirit
of the album could be summarised as ‘be happy, play the
game’, the wisdom of the late Sri Sathya Sai Baba for whose
philosophy Dana has long been a worldwide ambassador. This
is never more apparent than in the touching song of universal
empathy ‘We Share The Same Sky’.