Music
Press
"The re-emergence of melody, songwriting and performance, in the age of blathering hip hop thugs and gyrating pre-pubescent video whores, is most desperately welcome. Nathan Davis returns us to a time when purported musicians actually played and
wrote music instead of sampling the abilities of others and claiming it as one's own. This is a man who writes and performs his own singular musical vision. He can claim a perspective few have seen and he can present its case with a talent and a passion only few are capable of. This is a survivor telling his tale in Technicolor terms. This is a rare meeting of experience and art."
--John Custer, producer
- raleighmusic.com
“Davis is a fascinatingly deep & dark, and painfully honest artist, a phenomenally passionate singer...a songwriter's songwriter....The entire CD is packed full of some of the most unbridled and talented songwriting imaginable. You can visualize his
feet erupting as Nathan's intense vocal desperation rips straight up from his toes.... Nathan's weathered and tan vocals share
an urgency that equals his burning, percussive guitar work...transporting his audience into the 'Nabyss' known as 'Nathan Davis
ALIVE at the Six String”. - Carolina Civic Voice, by Annette Warner
Local musician and songwriter Nathan Davis launched the first of several gigs which are part of a state-wide promotional tour for his new acoustic album “Nathan Davis Live” at a crowded and rowdy O’Donnell’s Pub on June 17.
“Nathan Davis Live” personifies the arduous, mercurial life this 28-year-old artist has lead since leaving town at 17 on a train bound to St. Louis. With nothing but a guitar at his side, Davis set out on his own to make a career in music.
Davis and his Grammy- nominated producer, John Custer, poured a lot of “blood, sweat and tears” into his first professionally recorded album.
“The performance had been recorded earlier, but when I heard it after the fact, I thought it would be the perfect way to introduce the world to Nathan since the live acoustic setting showcased his songwriting and his powerful vocals,” Custer said.
After enduring many bumps and bruises along the way, Davis hopes his time spent on “the road less traveled” will resonate with listeners on “Nathan Davis Live”.
His lyrics are uncompromising and honest, disclosing to anyone who is willing to listen, the brutal reality of living on the streets amongst drug dealers, strippers and suicide. Accented by guitar and piano accompaniment, the driving upbeat tempo of his voice- a unique blend of Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen- soothes the rough edges of his message as it settles on the crowd through clouds of smoke and rounds of whisky.
And on a warm Carolina night, in a small Carolina town, this Carolina wild child was nothing short of a local legend playing among friends and folks whom he considers part of his extended family.
“Nathan Davis Live” is now available at Sam Goody located in Pinecrest Plaza.
- Pinestraw Magazine, by Sally Clark
Reviews: Nathan Davis ~ Live
Posted on Saturday, July 09, 2005 @ 08:40:55 EST
Topic: Reviews
Artist: Nathan Davis
CD: Live
Home: Raleigh, North Carolina
Style: Blues/Rock
Quote: "It's a night of full-steam ahead musical deliverance captured on CD."
I'm still alive, and you thought I'd be dead at twenty-five ...
Somehow, that line from "Still Rock and Roll," one of the tracks off Nathan Davis' first live CD, seems to sum up the whole album. This old-school blues/rock singer/songwriter has seen and done way too much to have even made it to North Carolina's Six String Cafe to record this album. But he's here. And this CD captures him in his element - onstage. He's not even one for storytelling. Just an appreciative "thanks" after each song, then he's into the next one, with the wonderfully talented pianist John Henry Trinko adding dramatic effects on the keys. It's a night of full-steam ahead musical deliverance captured on CD. No wonder the audience response is so explosive and filled with exhiliration as each song ends.
Most of these songs fall in the bluesy ballad category, although Davis and Trinko kick things off with a James McMutry cover ("Too Long in the Wasteland") that starts as an almost violent instrumental - the piano chords hit like blows while the guitar races and scrambles for cover. At the end, Davis practically howls at the moon. This man holds nothing back.
The live atmosphere gives the listener a chance to focus on Davis' lyrics, and in many cases, he is obviously describing himself in twisted imagery. From "Promised Land":
Deep within my darkest hour
I found a shadow of a tortured man
Lived a million lives too fast
Scratched away his peeling skin ...
Sometimes I don't have much to say
And my guitar speaks better anyway ...
Another standout is the hestitant love song "Carolina Sky," sung entirely without love-song cliche, just from-the-gut professions such as the fact that she looks beautiful even with smeared mascara. Save the Shakespeare. Sometimes this is all a girl needs to hear.
Davis has always been gutsy, raw, and real. After several studio projects, he finally presents himself on his home turf, playing for his fans, doing what he loves more than anything else in the world. Even more than the drugs that almost did him in. This CD is the sound of a man whose soul was saved by music.
http://www.nathan-davis.com
- indie-music.com By Jennifer Layton
"Every once in a while you run into a guitar player who plays from the heart. Who feels it like it's supposed to be felt and lays it down like it's supposed to be laid down. Nathan Davis has got it." - Internet
Discography
2000--The Holly Show, 11 song LP
2002--Out of My Skin, 12 song LP
2005--Nathan Davis Live, 12 song LP
Release scheduled Fall 2006--Revolution Lane, full length LP
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Nathan Davis has a remarkable style, writing poignant lyrics full of pain, hope, heartbreak, love, despair and strength, always telling his story with passion and honesty. He carries his songs with convincing ease and a powerful depth that can only be earned. A natural talent, he is true to form and true to his art. He's made every mistake six times, but has never accepted defeat, and has written his life down a hundred times over. His songs are his testimony. You've been invited to listen.
Davis has found inspiration for his emtional, gut-wrenching lyrics from his own life and from the lives of others he's met along the way. His own music is illuminated by the work and the lives of musicians who have traveled similar roads before him and with him. This music comes from a place deep inside his soul, and his songs prove that the best artists are the ones who truly feel what they create. His hasn't exactly been a smooth journey, but good things and great talent never come easily.
The Result: The Songs and Discography
Davis released his first live album, "The Holly Show", in the summer of 2000. Immediately following his first album's release, came the first studio album, "Out Of My Skin", released in 2002, which thanks to huge buzz factor and some local airplay, became the best selling album by a local artist at Davis's hometown Sam Goody music store.
While touring in support of "Out Of My Skin," Davis caught the attention of legendary, Grammy-nominated producer John Custer (DAG, Cry of Love, Corrosion of Conformity) in 2003. The two men instantly clicked, and decided to take on the task of recording a professional album. Their endeavor doubled and in the process of recording the studio album "Revolution Lane," they recorded and produced "Nathan Davis Live!" with the help of longtime Davis friend and engineer Chad Stites, keyboardist John Henry Trinko and bassist Jeff Crawford (both of Chapel Hill, NC's SpencerAcuff) and many of Davis' fans at the Six String Music Hall in Cary, NC. The resulting recording, released as "Nathan Davis Live" in June 2005, is one of the most stunning works to ever result from a completely independent artist with a small budget.
The Shows
An infamous workaholic, Nathan Davis is rarely seen without his guitar and if he's not on stage playing or at home writing, he's in the corner of some smoky bar watching someone else work the stage. From New Orleans to Tulsa to Alaska and back, he's played more places in his 20-some-odd years than most seasoned pros have played in a lifetime. Davis is a master of versatility, playing blues in a brutal style one moment, singing a striking, poignant ballad the next, and then blowing the crowd away with rock-n-roll guitar playing that threatens to shake the glasses off the bar.
What's Next
Revolution Lane, the Custer-produced and long-awaited studio album, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2006. The full-length album features cameos from local professional artists including John Custer on guitar, legendary guitarist Woody Weatherman (Corrosion of Conformity), saxophonist Lee Johnson (Big Bertha Band), violinist Bill Ayerbe (a first-chair violin concert master in the Fayetteville, NC Symphony), and local bass prodigy Derek Arnold. There is also a full-length DVD in the works, featuring electrifying live performances by Davis and his band and an in-depth look at the life and times that inspired the music.
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