Daphne Denniston is a singer/songwriter currently based in San Diego, California. She has lived and traveled throughout most of North America, and much of the world, and her songs are the stories to prove it. Although her influences span many genres, from blues to rock to reggae to jazz, Daphne’s style generally falls under the category of alt-country/Americana.
Daphne has been described as a "sultry singer/songwriter with a voice and style that could be the lovechild of an acoustic Lucinda Williams and Bruce Springsteen, with more than a touch of Bob Dylan. She sings of the places and people she’s met on the backroads of her life, and her songs never fail to have both the traveled and un-traveled listener alike nodding in appreciation, as any dreamer can relate to her memories of small towns, empty highways, truckstops, garages, dive bars and of course the ever-present theme of lost loves and heartbreak."
The 10 songs on her debut album, "Five Dollars or the Truth" are just the tip of the iceberg for Daphne Denniston, who has a live following from Montana to California to Texas to Pennsylvania, with a repertoire of originals that are waiting their turn to make five more strong albums, at least.
The title of this debut is from a line in the third song, "Psycho Magnet." While unlike the rest of the songs on the album, which are far more likely to evoke tears than laughter, "Psycho Magnet" has developed a cult following for it's clever staccato lyrics and hilarious portrayal of the crazy people that we all know, and sometimes are.
CD REVIEW BY ROOTSTIME
Rootstime, an internet magazine in the dutch language, which targets roots music-lovers in Belgium & the Netherlands, writes over 150 cd-reviews per month at www. rootstime. be. The following is the English translation of the review that has just been posted:
DAPHNE DENNISTON
FIVE DOLLARS OR THE TRUTH
Myspace CDBaby VIDEO
The cover art of this debut album, with a somewhat blurry picture of the singer, made me a bit reminiscent of a Symbolist painting by Fernand Khnopff, and it immediately attracted my attention. Curious, I asked myself who this lady with the looks of a 19th Century femme fatale could be.
I soon came to know, by going to her myspace, that singer-songwriter Daphne Denniston, who currently resides in San Diego, California, is a traveling soul who, in recent years, has wandered from state to state throughout North America and other regions. Her impressions are expressed in self-written songs, ten of which are now bundled on her first album, entitled, "Five Dollars Or The Truth.
The music of Denniston could easily be categorized as acoustic alt-country/Americana. All songs were recorded live in a home studio, and there was little or no post-production work involved, so it all sounds a bit like hearing them live in your own living room. But ultimately, those points are all trivial when reviewing a singer-songwriter, particularly in relation to the songs that he or she writes. And so it is on this CD that the diamond in-the-rough is exposed.
Opener 'Something Dangerous' is such a wonderful song that after you listen to it a few times, you can no longer get it out of your head. 'In The Winter Hungry' is strongly reminiscent of the better work of someone like Natalie Merchant. The unusual 'Psycho Magnet' seems like an ode to all the crazy people that we meet our life, and sometimes even ourselves.
In the incantation 'She's All Ghosts' you hear echoes of the young Dylan and the fatal attitude of someone like Nico, as mystical smoke hangs in the air. And the beautiful 'Musicians And Lovers' (also often a fatal combination) could hold its own next to one of the early records of Leonard Cohen.
This may prove that Daphne Denniston will be a name that is not forgotten. Whoever takes the time to carefully listen to this album will find a truly nice discovery, so grab the opportunity.
Shake
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