Brooklyn, New York, hammer dulcimer player Max ZT and Black Country/Tokyo singer-songwriter/guitarist Dan Whitehouse will bring their UK tour to Manchester next week.
The duo will headline a Manchester gig at the Stoller Hall, one of six UK dates they are playing. They will blend spoken word, music, song, and virtuoso instrumentals drawing on multi-cultural roots, the healing power of music and being in the present.
The run of shows marks the artists’ second live tour together, feeding off each other’s creativity to create collaboratively. Their collaboration resulted in the release of their debut album Ten Steps, recorded between New York and Tokyo. The album featured Max ZT’s dulcimer and Dan Whitehouse’s vocal and spoken-word poetry. The album took on subjects as diverse as fatherhood, practicing golf swings as a metaphor for life, sunlight bouncing off buildings in Japan and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Speaking about the duo’s approach, Max ZT explained, “Our show incorporates elements of improvisation, we are trying to be in the moment as much as possible. That’s enlightenment, that’s the real deal. If you can get your fluency/your vocabulary and your grammar into a place where you can just talk and just be that’s heaven you know. We rarely get moments of stillness in life. Having a performance space where you can still have stillness, patience and this moment of just being – this feels like something unique.”
The duo will also be performance tracks from their most recent solo projects, Reflections on the Glass Age (Dan Whitehouse) and Daybreak (Max ZT).
When do Max ZT and Dan Whitehouse perform at Manchester’s Stoller Hall?
Max ZT and Dan Whitehouse perform at Manchester’s Stoller Hall on 28 October 2023. The Manchester gig is one of six UK dates they are playing:
18 October – Winchester, Arc Theatre
19 October – Abingdon, Music At The Unicorn
22 October – Milton Keynes, Stables 2
24 October – London, The Pheasantry, Pizza Express
25 October – Shoreham, Ropetackle Arts
28 October – Manchester, The Stoller Hall
Manchester gigs – Max ZT and Dan Whitehouse – image courtesy Peter James Millson
