One Eye Open continues Danser’s on-going collaboration with veteran guitarist and producer Steve Dawson, and features a core band of Dawson (guitars), Gary Craig (drums), and Jeremy Holmes (bass) assenbled remotely. Yet, the results are as organic, intuitive and in the moment as anything these veterans have ever recorded. Extensive travel, study and immersion in Cuban culture leave their mark on the songs of One Eye Open. The full horn section on six of the album’s ten tracks reflects her passion for Afro Cuban jazz and its link to traditional New Orleans music. The horn section, Dominic Conway, Jeremy Cook and Malcolm Aiken was produced in real time from Nashville, the players 15 feet apart from each other in Vancouver as Kat watche the whole session on Zoom from home in Edmonton.

There’s a trail that runs from the dead heat of the Mississippi Delta, through the winding alleyways of Havana, to the smoky confines of a cigar club in Edmonton. Kat Danser has spent most of her life trawling the backstreets of the blues and this album reflects the fruits of her explorations. From an old string band molody passed down from the twenties, to a lyric written the night before the pandemic shut the world down, the past rides shotgun with the present on everything Kat sings and plays. The enduring emotional power and relevance of the blues pervades. Road house swagger; deep, slow blues'; reflective, soulful tunes; swinging and rollicking; soulful or even punkish - each track a window into blues geo-history. When asked about the ongoing appeal of blues music, Kat Danser offers, “The blues gives us a place to bring all our hope and sorrow.” Agreed. Uncompromising.