Austin Based Arkansas Dave Makes For An Auspicious Self Titled Debut (Album Review)

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Arkansas Dave has some swag. His stage name alone tells you that. This is Dave Pennington, Austin-based blues singer-songwriter’s debut, recorded at the legendary FAME in Muscle Shoals, AL with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – Will McFarlane on guitar, Clayton Ivey on keys, and Bob Wray on bass. Dave plays guitar, drums, and percussion.  More than a dozen musicians, including co-producer Jamie “Gypsy” Evans, join on select tracks with 3-piece horn arrangements by Charles Rose and Jim Horn. Vocal tracks were then done at Arlyn in Austin. It’s an album that begins in a blues rock mode and migrates to rootsy singer-songwriter fare as it unfolds, telling Dave’s life story.

Prior to picking up the guitar and going solo, Arkansas Dave was the drummer for Guitar Shorty, several other bands, and his own group Ouachita. He also studied taiko in Japan and performed taiko there in a major theater. Other than that, before gigging with high profile names, he led a hardscrabble life, taking busboy and assembly worker jobs to fund his music, certainly not an unusual path these days. Music became his lifeline, growing up in a broken home with fundamental Christianity on the side and debilitating drug addiction on the other. His situation in Camden, AR was desperate. He had to leave.

Arkansas Dave enrolled in an audio engineering course at Media Tech in Austin Texas, driving into town with a trailer loaded with all his possessions. The college was housed at that time in the famous Arlyn Studios, home to sessions from Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Ray Charles. Dave with his classmates took the night shift at the studios – laying down tracks and learning the trade. Playing in bands followed, leading to a strong local following and eventually Guitar Shorty.

Arkansas Dave’s cover of Tom Waits’ “Chocolate Jesus’ was already premiered here on our site. His version is even slower than the original, showcasing his sturdy vocal chops against a backdrop of a Waits-like horn arrangement. Another outlet has premiered “Squeaky Clean,” featuring killer slide guitar, alludes to the cleaning up Arkansas Dave had to do before becoming a serious performer.  His vocal on “Rest of My Days” is the most expressive on the disc. “Jubilee” is an achingly slow ballad graced with background singers. He displays remarkable vocal range on the gospel infected “Something For Me,” replete with horns and background vocalists. “Hard Times” begins acoustically before the organ kicks in but stays mellow, like the second half of the album. He brings several musical elements together in the closer, the triumphant “Coming Home.”

On the whole, the album seems purposely uneven, showing his growth as a songwriter as it evolves.  For the vocals, the diverse styles, and strength of the backing musicians, this is an auspicious debut.

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