David Davenport

David Davenport’s release of his third solo album “NINE” takes some surprising turns, starting out in one fashion and rapidly switching gears to another completely different style. In one song you may recognize a particular band’s influence, in the next you would never have made the connection. Then, another batman-esk turn takes you somewhere else entirely.
Not to say it’s a jerky ride, just the transitions are somewhat unexpected. The variety is so that you might not have recognized that all of the songs came from the same artist, let alone the same album.
In “NINE” we are taken on a journey of past familiarity of his hit releases “Transition Man” and “One Brother” to a soulful movement towards an everyday spirit with “Different”. David reminds us of a place within music that relaxes your senses and makes you want to rock out with your headphones on while doing all those mundane things in your life. You can throw it in your stereo while cleaning house or on your way to work as a source of positive energy to tap into.
David can lock you in with his sensible honesty in his lyrics and at the same time take you away on a soulfully rockin time.
His “everyman” feel is reminiscent of Springsteen, or of a bluesier Billy Joel. It’s easy some days to identify with the song “Modern Man” “…..I’m just a simple boy, I do what I’m told….I’m just a modern mule”. In the soulful song “Forgotten Man” you hear David deeply connecting the reality of being.
David Davenport, once again expresses his musical talent to be so different and eclectic with his sounds of piano and guitar. If you make a copy of “NINE” your own it has a chance to make your everyday activities more enjoyable, as you hum along and finally add a little jive to your step.
In a unique and somewhat quirky interview, For The Sound talks to David about the life and insights of a punk guy gone blues rock.
Q. What was the inspiration behind your new album?
A. I suppose you mean for the title, “Nine”? I’d love to keep you guessing. I will say this, there are nine songs on the CD; I’ve always loved The Beatles’ song “Revolution #9? where the phrase, “number nine….number nine…number nine…” is repeated several times; I’m a huge math geek and am fascinated by the magic of the number nine (to wit: take any number, for instance 134,586 and add the individual digits thusly, 1+3+4+5+8+6 and you get 27, which is divisible by 9, and that tells you that the original number 134,586 is divisible by 9. Cool, eh?). It is also, by some calculations, my ninth album (bands and solo)
Q. What does this album “NINE” mean to you?
A. I think I’m more at peace with myself than I’ve ever been and it shows on this album. I don’t rush through the songs, and they benefit from that confidence
Q. When writing for this album, what was going on in your life?
A. This is a cool question because it makes it abundantly clear that nothing is going on in my life. I mean, nothing anyone cares about. I feel like Napoleon Dynamite, Sr. It’s always better retold, of course, but when it’s happening I am lost in the moment, and the moments don’t have to be momentous. It’s like before when I talked about having a great meal. That’s all it takes. That’s good though, right? I mean, your 10th anniversary can’t be like your senior prom.
Q. In the world today we are facing many perils, how do you feel you music connects with people and their mindset today?
A. We need more songs of togetherness and brother and sisterhood. I think it is very hard for us to heal ourselves when we’re off alone peering into the Internet looking for signs of life on the box. We need human touch.
Q. What advice could you give to people coming up in the industry today?
A. Support each other. Now more than ever you need to be networking and paying attention to who is working and why.

- FortheSound Review

You’re going to want to take David Davenport out for a cup of coffee, or maybe a beer. He’s just a very interesting guy, rarely saying the expected in his songs, often presenting a surprising and multi-layered point of view on the world. Songs on “The Big Machine” cover the spectrum from straight-out pop ballads and love songs to reggae, blues, and rock, always driven by Davenport’s stand-out singing and piano playing. My favorite five (out of a total of ten) tunes on this disk are: “Transition Man,” “The Hurt,” “Lazy Susan,” “What Does it Take?” and “They’re Killing All Our Gods.” The CD kicks off with the rocking “Transition Man.” The message is simple but interesting: the narrator speaks to a woman for whom he will “always be your friend/ but never your lover.” As with so many of Davenport’s songs, what makes this tune fly is his full-power piano playing and soaring vocals. But in these songs there’s always another layer or two. The music and singing are gutsy as hell, yet the lyrics are vulnerable and self-deprecating: “you always get your man/ I get the Dear John letter.” The bongos drive the song along at a bubbly clip, and the duet at the end of the song between Bill Porter’s screaming blues guitar and Davenport’s distorted, Doors-like organ bring it home. Whoa. It’s a complex, fun, touching song, and you’ll be humming the chorus to yourself afterwards. “The Hurt” reveals Davenport’s interest in deception, truth, guilt, sin, and redemption. Here again, the lyrics are introspective, confessional, and very intimate while the song cruises along with a driving piano- drum- bass-powered rhythm. You admire this guy for the power of his vocals in the first verse and then you’re blown away when he takes them an octave higher in the next. Bill Porter returns on this track with a classic wailing guitar solo to perfectly complement the tune’s painfully soul-baring lyrics. Alt-country adequately describes the musical feel of “Lazy Susan,” but oh, what a country song. It’s a loving, patient, and ruthless challenge to a woman who has submitted to the comfortingly vapid reassurances of organized religion. The speaker observes that “religion will not save you/ Susan, what you need is faith,” and makes clear how different those two things are: “Their words must be weak/ if they need to shout to be heard.” In this context Davenport’s church organ solo is wicked and hilarious. In contrast to commercial religion, the speaker urges Susan to follow the glimmers she feels of a yearning to seek truth for herself, and so to make it real. As on so many of the tracks on this CD, rich and gorgeous harmonies run throughout the choruses, and give the song a gospel inspirational feel. The relentless yet tuneful chugging of “What Does it Take?” brings us deep inside the psyche of someone who has given up on having his own life, ego, and identity. He’s always wishing to be someone and something else: “I wish, just for a day, that I could be a hero . . .” And the catchy chorus asks: “What does it take to want to want to be somebody else/ What does it take to want to give it up?” This deep yearning to understand people who are different is what makes Davenport’s songs so appealing, even when he has a critique of the characters and situations about which he sings. After a surprising, dream-like interlude, Erik Nelson’s achingly sweet and easy-flowing guitar solo takes the song out. The CD closes with characteristic Davenport gutsiness: a simple, soulful cry of rage against the murders of John Lennon and MLK, Jr. The gently lilting solo piano of “They’re Killing All Our Gods” accompanies a vocal and lyric that doesn’t settle for pity or sentimentality. “Time will say that they were wise men/ My heart will know they were loved.” The truth and wisdom these martyrs revealed in their lives and deaths allows them, with Davenport, to transcend the maudlin and find dignity and nobility in their stories. I find David Davenport’s singing awe-inspiring, his piano playing gorgeous. But perhaps even more appealing is the complex mixture of ballsy vulnerability, intellectual feeling, passion and compassion that comes through his lyrics. He seeks to understand where others might mock, judge, or wallow in cliché; I find that admirable and inviting. Combining that wisdom with the sheer luxurious fun of the music makes the collection a winner.

- Central IL Songwriters/ISU - Bob Broad

David Davenport released The Big Machine in 2003. The singer/songwriter/musician makes some valid points in his music. Davenport is not a religious man, he is spiritual, and he has some strong convictions for equal rights for all human beings regardless of race, creed or religion. You will hear those beliefs and feelings ring out clear and true throughout this release.
The machine the artist refers to is government, prejudice, and those guilty for practicing hate-filled ways of deception. Once negativity gathers a head of steam and everyone joins in for the ride it’s like a raging locomotive coming down the line, you simply cannot stop it.
The title track is perhaps the most prolific with words like “Don’t talk down to me, cuz you know, I‘ve already seen, and I don’t trust The Big Machine, no no don’t talk down to me.” That phrase alone said it all for me, it hit me right where it counts, and I instantly knew the broad scope of subjects he was covering with those words. David’s vocal style is soothing yet convincing, you know with absolution that he means every word he is singing.
Beyond the lyrics that hold meaning, the music is exceptional. David primarily plays the piano and organ but occasionally picks up the six-string and wails away, like on the rolling roots rocker “Hurt.” For a guy that dabbles with the frets he gets some good action. His counterpart Tom Wayne deserves the nod for a stellar performance with the electric guitar (tracks 1,2,4,5,) and some tasteful acoustic picking (tracks 1,2,3,5,6,9). All the contributors deserve plenty of credit for making David’s musical stories come to life.
If you enjoy sincere lyrics, roots rock with an AC feel but with enough oomph and guts comparative to a Dave Matthews song, this CD is your road to reckoning.
© MuzikReviews.com-http://www.muzikreviews.com
Tracks:
01. Transition Man
02. The Big Machine
03. The Hurt
04. When Will You Want?
05. Walk In The Woods
06. Lazy Susan7 Stepping Out Of Line
08. Cage Around My Soul
09. What Does It Take?
10. They're Killing All Our Gods
- MuzikReviews.com; Keith Hannaleck

David Davenport offers a straight down the line stripped down sound from The Big Machine on One Brother, his second release. This is a deeply emotive recording for Davenport. Nearly the entire album is his voice and a grand piano. Because of the prolific real life lyrics, the rhythmic sensibility, and a strong vocal presence, the kind you would be able to single out in a church choir, this works very well.
Davenport will remind you of some prominent artists such as Van Morrsion like on “The Power,” as he repeats in a toe tapping way “Preacher, preach!, heal my pain, his pockets are deep, his words…"well you get the picture. David is not a supporter of religion, he believes in a spiritual path, connected to his fellow man and mother earth without the politics of religion to cloud his vision. What is ironic is that some of tracks sound like old spirituals like “All In” or “Sylvie,” when Billy Joel’s style came to mind more than once. It ends up being yet another thought provoking and moving experience track by track.
Everything this man creates is for a reason and you simply cannot ignore his message and the valid points that he makes in his music. The music is secondary to the words. The added bonus that we get from the artist is the contemporary rock and pop infused with the blues and R &B, and it is always good.
My hat is off to Mr. Davenport for taking such a radically different musical approach and making it work like magic. This kind of change proves that this artist has what it takes and his music stands on its own merit whether it is just him and a piano or an entire band behind him, it does not matter, what you will hear is a quality recording.
© MuzikReviews.com-http://www.muzikreviews.com
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-February 10, 2008 - Muzikman

"...a showcase of songwriting talent, touching upon a cornucopia of different musical styles."
"...Transition Man...is a solid foray into the type of spinning, exhilirating sound that define much of The Burdons earlier work."
"...reinforced by a wall of harmonized Gospel-type backing vocals that send shivers directly up the spine."

"One of the better albums I've heard this year" - Bob Martin

It's often hard to write about artists that I know nothing about because most of the time I'm not armed with enough knowledge to effectively discuss his or her work. Regardless, in the end all that's important is whether the music is good or not and that decision, of course, takes no effort whatsoever. Such is the case with the latest artist to show up in my inbox, keyboard player David Davenport. He's an intelligent rocker originally hailing from Michigan who is now living in Illinois.

Davenport's career is as diverse as the fifty states. He is a classically trained musician who won a scholarship in voice and theater. He played in punk bands in San Diego while opening for the late Johnny Thunders. Back home in the Midwest he formed a delta swing band and opened for Jonny Lang. He has played almost every genre of music over a career that has spanned almost two decades.

Over time Davenport has released two solo CDs, The Big Machine (2003) and One Brother (2008). The latter received airplay on over two hundred radio stations in North America. This year he has released Nine, so named because that is the number of songs on the disc.

Davenport's tasteful voice leads the way on these intelligent, self-penned songs featuring arrangements that have a strong sense of composition. The jazz inflected "Bobby" is about a young dude carrying a knife intent on seeking revenge over a girl he lost and the attempt to talk him out of it. "Forgotten Man" is a reflection on a soldier's sacrifices in war. "One Brother" is a very optimistic look on life that tells the troubled subject that there is always help for you when you're down and out. The upbeat track is highlighted by a Blind Boys of Alabama soundalike gospel group. "On The Wire" is about watching a friend, lover, or close relative die. It's impossible to tell who the victim is but it's a sad, emotional, and wonderful piece of writing. The danceable "Modern Mule" is obviously influenced in several different ways by Roy Head's 1965 hit record, "Treat Her Right."

The world needs to pay attention to David Davenport now, and not just to make it easier for writers to discuss him. He's worthy of any positive press I know he'll receive in the future.
- Bloggerythms.Com