Where do all these emerging singer-songwriters come from? It’s not always Texas or Tennessee. In the case of David Bavas, the answer is from the Appalachian foothills by way of Seattle.

Bavas’s new CD is his second. If you’re like me, you missed his self-titled debut in 2005. After hearing Songs of Love, Death, and Trains, I can assure you that you don’t want to miss this one.

This CD has ten tunes; nine that he wrote and one Townes Van Zandt classic. His cover of “No Lonesome Tune” was my introduction. It’s rare to hear an emerging artist do a rendition of a song that surpasses the original. But, I felt Bavas did it with this one.

That got my attention. Listening closer to the CD, I heard an expressive voice, a collection of eclectic musical styles, and a wide array of instrumentation. However, that’s still just the tip of the iceberg. The weightier element, below the surface of each tune, is his songwriting, the constant that ties it all together.

His songs may tell dark stories, but they’re not unpleasant ones. Like Hank Williams Sr, who sang sad songs also, the tunes on this CD are tinged with tears.

The CD opens with “All the Trains”, a song of hard luck and heartbreak backed by a plaintive pedal steel. To sum it up he sings, “I know spring, it holds the rain / I left roses on your door / I know the rain, it must fall / I know all the trains are gone.”

There’s timeless quality to these songs. They could just as easily have been sung by Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers, Hank Williams, or Johnny Cash. They may be gone, but Bavas is still singing their songs ... songs of love, death, and trains.
                            Read more...