Dan Willson, AKA Withered Hand is a fine songwriter and I even know him, a little bit.

Having previously played in Barrichello and Peanut, he has been the main man behind Withered Hand since 2006. In 2009 he released the draw-dropping album, Good News. I was privileged to see him on a bill headlined by Broken Records and also featuring Jesus H. Foxx at Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire. I was gobsmacked. By this stage, the album was getting not only great reviews but brilliant end of year notices, and I spent a month trying to get hold of it. In the end, it was Ed from SL Records who sent me a link, and even fixed it for me to interview Dan. Had I been able to get hold of the album before my end of year lists in 2009, they would probably have turned out very differently. Ah well…

This was a Christmas song that Withered Hand put out as a free download in 2009:

Withered Hand -‘It’s A Wonderful Lie.’ mp3

Dan has now signed to the mighty Fence Collective (which as well as being run by King Creosote and Jonny Pictish Trail is also home to the likes of Kid Canaveral and too many great acts to mention). According to the email from Jonny Pictish which arrived today ‘the song is being released on Fence Records as part of an exclusive to subscribers of our new EP series. If folk subscribe on our website (www.fencerecords.com) before December 16th, they will receive a Xmas card with a mini-CD inside which will have ‘Real Snow’ on it.’ Right. You know what to do, yes?

THere is an EP on the way. Oh, and this track was recorded by none other than Darren Hayman. WOW.