Them Dirty Dimes

How do you capture the energy of a festival favorite on a studio album? After the well-received debut album In Gold We Trust (2021), childhood friends Gijs de Groot and Johan Stolk played with Them Dirty Dimes until they got blisters on their fingers. Soon they were booked as support for Eilen Jewell, Pokey LaFarge and John Craigie, became one of the most booked Popronde acts and performed at festivals such as Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival, Stadspark Live and TakeRoot.

All those gigs bring an enormous amount of inspiration and energy that you want to capture on an album. That’s why the Dimes decided to join forces with producer Bernard Gepken (Daniel Lohues, Tangarine, Rob Dekay) and Frans Hagenaars (Excelsior Recordings). Surrounded by a team of the best studio musicians, they played the songs live in the studio near the Amsterdam IJ.

And it doesn’t leave them empty handed. Empty Pockets is an album with eleven strong tracks, brought with the live feel of Springsteens Seeger Sessions. A record that’s not just musically sound, but one where you feel the long Americana tradition in the lyrics as well. From a sinister fairytale duet with the dark voice of VanWyck to the Dylansque ballad Hangman; Them Dirty Dimes know what a good story can do. As the album title Empty Pockets suggests, most of the songs are about loss, but always with the characteristic tongue-in-cheek perspective of the gentlemen.