On his second album, Wrong Kind of One, Birmingham, UK-based folk singer-songwriter Amit Dattani is taking listeners deep inside the heart of Americana.
Songs such as Steady The Boat, Gathering Acorns and One Too Many Mornings are brimming with a sense of soul-baring honesty, almost like a musical confession, one where the guitar tones are every bit as exquisite as the voice accompanying them.
Fingerstyle Fan
Though he grew up listening to blues masters such as Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy, it was the fingerstyle approach of Blind Blake, Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotten that helped guide Amit towards the musical style he would pursue.
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“Hearing them cover so many bases with their fingers blew my mind wide open,” he says. “It was magic. I got pretty obsessed with trying to work out how the heck they managed it, spending weeks and months working on my right hand – learning how to syncopate, mute and emphasise different notes.”
Open Approach
This led to Amit discovering the likes of Kelly Joe Phelps and Paul Curreri, and looking deeper into their techniques. “That’s when I got into open tunings,” he continues, “as well as wrapping your thumb over the top of the neck to grab those lower strings, giving more freedom to my fingers. I was amazed by how they were able to merge voice and guitar in such a unique way.
“Now I listen to folks like Ali Farka Touré, Joseph Spence and contemporary players like Kris Drever or John Doyle. I’m always interested in new picking patterns and ways to express yourself through guitar in ways that best serve a song.”
Custom Creativity
On his latest recordings, Amit can be heard playing his custom Hammett Guitar Co Astro Strat.
“It’s a hollowbody electric fashioned after the old Harmony Stratotones,” he says. “I’d always been an acoustic player. In 2018, I got diagnosed with a genetic degenerative nerve condition that impacts my hands and my feet. Long story short, the prognosis was I’d likely have two years of playing left in me before the batteries in my hands ran out.
“I got talking to Pat Hammett and we hatched a plan to create a custom electric with lower string tension and a flatter angle for my picking hand, plus super-wide string spacing. It has single-handedly helped me carry on playing.”
Electric Connection
The album was recorded live with Steph Sanders on drums. “I plugged my Astro Strat into a Tone King Imperial amp,” Amit says. “Stepping into the electric space as a fingerstyle acoustic player has been so fun. Everything was in straight takes with my incredible drummer Steph.
“I find her musicality so inspiring. I wanted to make an album that sounded like the stuff I listened to as a kid – stripped back, live and all about the energy and performance. It’s all about connection between the folks in that room in that moment.”
Under the Thumb
A Rory Gallagher DVD inspired Amit to give thumbpicks and fingerpicks a try.
“He was on an old National and I just loved the sound,” Amit says. “By then I was already sort of hybrid picking with a plectrum and using my middle and ring finger to pick melodies, so the transition to a thumbpick felt natural. I find using it with fingerpicks helps me to play cleaner and more articulately.
“The main thing for me is making sure the thumbpick blade is tiny. I file it right down so it’s more like an extension to my thumbnail. I would recommend experimenting lots and making sure it’s on tight – I once had one fly off mid-concert before, which was not fun.”
Amit picks his favourite guitar moments on Wrong Kind Of One…
“There’s a semi-improvised take on the hymn Just a Closer Walk With Thee that felt super emotional to record. And the song Now I Can Play On is an ode to my guitar and literally being able to play on.
“It makes me smile because I can sort of hear the joy I’m feeling from being able to play along to Steph’s drums in full flow. The hardest song to play is the title track. It’s a pretty detailed picking pattern, and depending on what kind of day my hands are having, it can be tricky to keep up.”
