Album Notes

This 2001 release of David Cooper’s “Just Something I Do” , labeled blues isn’t the blues you would imagine. Sometimes dark, sometimes light. This instrumental album is a mysterical and insightful listen. Yet has a romantic touch in places. You’ll be laughing and crying, and singing and smiling!

According to the Splendid Ezine website on 03-14-2002….
“Never has one instrument sounded so different when called by another name as when the violin is transformed into a "fiddle". David Cooper is a fiddle player extraordinaire, and is also blessed with a real ear for melody. He is also a guy who revels in his eccentricities, as in the ridiculous period photograph and faux-gilded-age commentary on the back of the jewel case.
The song styles here are varied, though all consist of piano, guitar and drums backing the inimitable fiddling of Mr. Cooper. The most successful of these tracks (to my adult/new-age/fusion-phobic ears) are those that most call to mind the fiddling that gave an audio sepia tone to Ken Burns' Civil War documentary. "Sometimes We Wait", especially, is antebellum beautiful for its first two minutes or so, before the melody slips away from Cooper and into the hands of his pianist. This is symptomatic of the album's larger flaw: Cooper is so much more interesting as a musician than his accompanists that his very generosity in sharing the spotlight leads to the album's most pedantic moments. The guitar solo on the title track is uninspired, for instance, while Cooper's treatment of the same theme is excellent and nuanced.
Based on its title, and the fact that Cooper is a renowned country fiddler, it is clear that this is something of a sideline for him. As such, it's a perfectly fine record, but I think its greatest impact on me has been calling Cooper's other work to my attention.” Brett McCallon

Enjoy!