Derek Dames Ohl's Solo Career Marked by New EP

Dressed in colorful Western garb, Derek Dames Ohl cuts a memorable image. With a bushy ’70s-style mustache and trucker cap, the 29-year-old singer-songwriter recalls the spirit of such classic Americana troubadours as early Jimmy Buffett or John Prine.

As the bass player for Boulder-based jam band Flash Mountain Flood, the Colorado native has laid down the low end for plenty of groove-heavy electric jams over the years. Flash plays in the vein of the Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers and The Band, but Ohl's solo side sees him crafting thoughtful and witty folk- and country-influenced material on an acoustic guitar.

"I've always been obsessed with the art of songwriting," says Ohl, a graduate of Boulder High School. "I was that classic kid who got a guitar in middle school and played it as much as possible. In high school I didn't carry a backpack, I just kept my papers in the front of my guitar case. Later on, I started playing the bass because it gave me more opportunities, since so many people play the guitar. I like playing solo as a songwriter, but sometimes it's nice to just play along on bass and not have to be the person in charge of addressing the audience."

Despite his professed ambivalence about the spotlight, Ohl effectively engages his audiences with interesting bits of song history and amusing asides while performing solo. His sets range from his impressive original material to covers of the Grateful Dead, Prine, Guy Clark and classic country artists including George Jones.

On Friday, July 28, the aspiring balladeer will release a five-song EP, Dumb, Drunk and Anxious, and he'll play an album-release concert the same day at Mountain Sun in Boulder. The new collection includes a handful of cuts that demonstrate his songwriting ability and no-illusions outlook, including "On the Line," an engaging thought-tune that he says is "about the music industry."

"I've been meaning to release these songs for a while now, and I'm finally getting them out, which feels so good," Ohl enthuses. "Some of the songs I wrote literally right before I went into the studio. One of them I've never even played live. It's been a really cool experience."

His singing voice is equal parts smooth and gruff, with a bit of road dust and life-weariness sprinkled on top. For a young man, Ohl channels an old soul.

"The emotion in country music is inspiring," he says. "It's not like jam rock; it's not going to blow your mind with the instrumental shredding or anything. It's the kind of music where they're playing softly with just a couple chords, but it's got so much emotion in it. It's a massive release to write these tunes and perform them."

Ohl grew up in the Boulder foothills; he says his parents, who are not musicians, have been very supportive of his chosen career path and have contributed to his life as an artist in countless ways. "They're music lovers all the way back, whether it was Van Morrison or Al Green," he notes. "I was raised around so much music and going to venues like Red Rocks and the Boulder Theater with my mom. Growing up on the Front Range helped give me the notion that I could go out and do this. I regularly saw people busking on the Pearl Street Mall who went on to become serious musicians. I heard Sierra Ferrell on the mall when she was just a train-hopper with a guitar. She stopped me dead in my tracks, though. It's been a great place to get inspired."

Ohl went on the road by himself earlier this year, venturing as far as Charleston, South Carolina. Dumb, Drunk and Anxious was recorded in Nashville while he was on his cross-country journey.

"Touring as a solo artist is way easier than touring with a full band," he says. "The EP was recorded at the Bomb Shelter in Nashville. In the last ten years, that's become sort of the go-to place for alt-country artists. Margo Price recorded there, and one of my favorite bands, the Deslondes, records there, too. It's a great place to work, and there are a lot of amazing musicians available within a stone's throw. I was like a kid in a candy store. The production from the studio really blew me away."

Ohl says he played everything on his new tracks except the drums.

"It was a pretty smooth and easy process. We got a bunch of really good demos right off the bat, and I was able to build from there. I drove across country to do it, so I didn't want to screw it up. I've been working toward my music for about a decade now. That theme emerges in my songs. Watching people around me move on with their careers and then getting back to square one with my solo stuff has been a challenge. You wonder if it'll ever get better. All of my songs include a bit of that anxiety."

Derek Dames Ohl, Dumb, Drunk and Anxious album-release show, 9 p.m. Friday, July 28, Mountain Sun, 1535 Pearl Street, Boulder. Ohl will also play The Swing Station, 3311 Co Rd 54G in Laporte, at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 29, and The Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main Street in Boulder, at 6 p.m. Sunday, July 30.