Music
Press
"In a town full of great guitar players, David Ducharme-Jones is carving out his place at the top of the heap. Sophisticated and fiery, he plays with emotion and style. The new album really sounds great on the radio, too. You gotta hear this guy." - Roger Allen, Lone Star State of Mind, 107.1 KGSR - Roger Allen -Lone Star Star of Mind
...guitarist Ducharme-Jones showcases his blues side on Weeds, drifting from the mellow slink of "Golden" to the horn-spiked groove of "Say What You Want." "Goodnight Roy B" and fusion giant Billy Cobham's "Red Ba...ron" lay jazz backdrops for D-J's supremely smooth six-string maneuvers, while a cover of Al Green's "I'm a Ram" gets gritty." - Doug Freeman, The Austin Chronicle - Austin Chronicle
“Criminally underrated, unassuming, yet packed with talent”. Pop Culture Press - Pop Culture Press
MUSIC
Sowing 'Weeds'
Ducharme-Jones talks about how release came together
By Brandon Cobb
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Guitarist David Ducharme-Jones is no one-trick pony. On his latest CD, 'Weeds,' he not only showcases his fret board acrobatics and gilded tone on the disc's instrumental numbers, but also lends his ample voice and skills as an arranger to several other tracks. We spoke with Ducharme-Jones via phone from his Noisy Neighbor studio at his home in the hill country just outside Austin about the influences that shaped this new recording, and the process of deconstructing these influences to create something new.
Austin American-Statesman: The first track, 'Golden,' is quite a bit different than anything else on the disc, wouldn't you say?
Ducharme-Jones: Yeah, that's kind of smooth-jazz song. I wanted something on the album to make people say, 'What is this?' when they heard it.
How did that one come about?
Well, in the beginning my drummer (Michael Kopp), bass player (David Evertson) and I would improvise a lot at our gigs because we didn't have a lot of material ... the basic structure of this song is one of the things we used to improvise over a lot. When I started recording this album, I just put that together with a chorus and added the lyrics. Later I added the wah-wah guitar parts ... that really put it over the edge.
The soloing on that track is also quite different. Was that something you made a conscious decision to do differently as well?
I'd been listening to some Steely Dan song and when I went to record the solo on 'Golden' I just said to myself, 'This song really needs a Larry Carlton kind of solo.'
You recorded the entire album at your own studio, Noisy Neighbor. I imagine having your own recording studio is incredibly convenient and efficient, but are there any drawbacks?
Well, having your own recording studio is a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you're not paying for the studio by the hour, so you're not under that pressure to produce something in the allotted time. On the other hand without that time constraint, you could keep working on stuff for weeks ... really over think things and lose some of the spontaneity.
Mid-way through recording this album I decided I'd lock up the studio, leave it, then come back later. As a musician you can never be truly objective about your performance on the spot so I'd force myself to leave something alone, even if I was unhappy with it and come back later. I'd come back to it the next day and realize that it had some personality.
Then there are always the distractions that come from working out of your home.
The credits on the inside jacket list Anne Ducharme on harmony vocals on a few songs and Taylor Ducharme-Jones on percussion on one. Did they do more distracting or helping?
(Laughs) Taylor is my son and he's in school at U.N.T. (University of North Texas) studying to be a classical percussionist. After we recorded 'Savannah Women' I listened back to it and it just needed something ... so I had Taylor come put some extra percussion on it.
On a few of the songs I thought it wouldn't be the best idea if I harmonized with myself, so I asked Anne, my wife, to come in and do the harmony parts. She's a great singer and sings at gigs sometimes ... and she's inexpensive to hire. (Laughs)
I definitely hear the blues in your music, but it there is something else going on in there too. What is it?
First and foremost I'm a blues guitar player, but I bend the genre and include different styles and different influences – jazz, R&B, rock - so many different styles of improvisation. And when (the band) improvise(s), we bring a lot of energy and intensity. We like to walk it to the edge and see what happens.
Tell me about the title, 'Weeds.' What's the significance there?
I was trying to come up with a name for the record for a while. What struck me one day were these photos Anne had taken of these weeds out back. One of them is just absolutely beautiful with a spider web and the morning dew and we ended up using it on the inside of the CD. I was looking at these photos and thought, 'That's a perfect metaphor for the album.' I mean, here are these different songs that don't necessarily relate to each other, all put together ... a bed of weeds. - Austin American Statesman
What do you get when you have extraordinary guitar chops, a home studio, and a desire to cut an album? For Austin’s David Ducharme-Jones, you get Weeds. You may recognize his name as one of the founding members of Austin’s Rainravens, but Weeds is much more than a solo-version of his former band.
Ducharme-Jones showcases a mastery of guitar, a good vocal performance, and a love for multiple genres with Weeds. This CD is kind of like putting all your favorite Funk, R&B, Blues, Americana, and country-rock CDs released between 1970 and 1990 on and hitting shuffle. He finds a way to mix some really nicely done original tracks with some lesser known but great covers.
Right off the bat, “Golden” separates his solo effort from his work with the Rainravens. The track boasts a 1970s wa-wa groove with an infectious chorus that will get stuck in your head all day when you hear it.
Then he changes gears and genres and brings out the full-tilt boogie blues of “Talk To Your Daughter.” Next up is the instrumental Joe Satriani-esque “Goodnight Roy B” then the funky horns of “Say What You Want.” This genre-jumping theme carries on throughout the forty-five minute 10-track album.
The Eagles-meets-Rolling Stones jam of “Left Undone” is a classic country-tinged rocker. If you are a Rainravens fan, this song was previously released in 2006 as part of the 2 Disc The Best of the Rainravens.
One of the standout tracks is the spot-on Tommy Bolin cover “Savannah Woman.” It’s got a sweet climbing dirty ballad feel to it. “Snow white and with desire / That vamp from the magazine. / Cold and distant as the moon / Why can't she burn like fire?”
Overall, Weeds is an entertaining laid-back jazzy blues album that had me tapping my toes to the beat on each listen. I look forward to catching him live soon.
Speaking of live, Ducharme-Jones is playing the Texas Book Festival at 11:00am on 10/31, then playing that evening at The Amsterdam. If you’re staying away from public places on Halloween, he’s also playing on November 6 at 8p.m. in Austin at the One 2 One bar. Check http://davidducharmejones.com/ for more information - Sean Claes - InSite Magazine
Discography
Weeds (LP)
Tracks receiving radio airplay include Talk to Your Daughter, Say What You Want, Savannah Woman, Lootin. Video release of the single 'Golden' is in rotation on ME Television in Austin, Texas.
Photos
Bio
David Ducharme-Jones
(www.davidducharmejones.com)
David Ducharme-Jones’ (pronounced doo-sharm) smooth and sophisticated style originates from an extensive musical career. His soulful vocals and jazz-infused blues guitar has evolved from an eclectic appreciation for rock, blues, jazz, funk and soul. Ducharme-Jones’ live performances and new album, Weeds, reflect these influences and his innate musical sense.
Weeds is a mix of Ducharme-Jones’ originals and favorites that follow a path similar to the records he listened to growing up. “A lot of albums from the ’70s, stuff that I really got into, was a mixed bag of styles. Tommy Bolin, Eric Clapton and Johnnie Winter would have different genres on one album. I don’t think at that time they tried to narrow an artist’s style like they do now. You could hear rock, country rock, jazz, or blues tracks all on the same record. So I thought I’d make an album with all the musical influences I love. And that’s why I called it Weeds. It’s a wild collection of songs,” says Ducharme-Jones.
Ducharme-Jones was born on the south side of Des Moines, Iowa, into a family with five kids. “My mom and my sister played piano a little, and I think every one of my siblings played some kind of instrument for about a week. I was the only one who found a passion for music. When I was just beginning to play music, I was fortunate to have several friends who were also starting to play, so we were always jamming and learning from each other.”
Ducharme-Jones was playing professionally in several bands while still in Des Moines, but not fond of the winters in Iowa, so he and his wife, Annie, moved to San Francisco. During the ’80s David fronted a band called The Drive that cultivated a strong following in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was produced by Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses) and Neal Schon, guitarist for multi-platinum rockers Journey. But after several unsuccessful attempts to secure a major record deal, the band dissolved.
Ready for a change in scene, Ducharme-Jones and Annie relocated to Austin, a city they’d seen featured in a Rolling Stone article. “We came down to check it out, and it was exciting to see all the cool venues for live music. It was hilly and green, and it seemed very hip and friendly. We loved it.”
Ducharme-Jones quickly found a gig playing with R&B singer Eloise Burrell and a number of other bands. In 1996, Ducharme-Jones was a founding member of Rainravens, producing an album for Deja Disc, a prestigious Texas indie label, before signing a deal with Blue Rose Records in Germany. After two albums and several U.S. and European tours, Ducharme-Jones left the band, but returned in 2007 to produce the latest Rainravens effort, Garden Rocket, and mix the live DVD of the band performing on Rockpalast, filmed during their latest tour in Europe.
Ducharme-Jones’ latest work, Weeds, is definitely his best yet, but expect more. His love of performing and recording doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
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