Looks like he's coming back to town (Stockton, CA), and has a new album.

From our local paper:

Favorite son
Singer-songwriter Dirk Hamilton plays for hometown crowd

By Ian Hill
Record Staff Writer
April 06, 2006 6:00 AM

Singer-songwriter Dirk Hamilton is finding U.S. fame elusive as ever even as his star continues to rise overseas.

Hamilton, a Lincoln High School graduate who now lives in Texas, will perform with his band Saturday in Stockton. The show is a warm-up for a tour of Italy, where Hamilton has a fan club and a Web site, and where his 1978 album "Meet Me at the Crux" is about to be re-released with bonus tracks.

The local performance should include songs from "The Ghost of Van Gogh," a new album Hamilton is looking to release through a U.S. label. Hamilton, 56, said a stateside release would be a step forward in his three-decade career.

"I'm calling everyone I can think of, from the past and present" in hopes of getting the album released here, he said. "I think I've got Italy sewn up."

Some of Hamilton's struggles result from his difficulty straddling the line between music as art and business. Hamilton considers himself primarily an artist and poet, and he admits that he's had problems dealing with the economics of the music industry.

"You've got to be a self-marketer today more than ever," he said. "I never got that part down. It's impossible work for me to be a self-marketer."

Hamilton seemed assured of U.S. success when "Welcome to the Crux" was released. It is one of four albums he recorded for major labels between 1976-80, and Rolling Stone magazine later dubbed the disc one of the essential records of the 1970s.

"Meet Me at the Crux" covers a variety of styles and reflects its era. There's the breezy West Coast rock of the opening track, "Mouth Full of Suck," followed by the sunny twang of "All in All" and the prog-rock vocal introduction of "Tell a Vision Time."

But Hamilton's major-label releases didn't sell well, and he left music for five years after burning out on the industry. He has released several albums on independent labels since his return and in Italy also fronts a blues band.

Saturday's show and the upcoming Italian tour will feature guitarist and longtime Hamilton collaborator Don Evans, Stockton bassist Eric Westphal and drummer Tim Seifert. Westphal, 46, said a new generation of fans is beginning to discover Hamilton and his group.

"What people are finding out is these guys can really play," he said.



Some song snippets here: http://www.dirkhamilton.com/04disc/t_crux.htm