Ghost Towns and Autumn Trails
© Copyright-Pamorah Productions
(634479575228)
Record Label: Gene Davenport
No items available in your wishlist
Gene Davenport is an expert on Bob Nolan and Sons of the Pioneers. For this album, he recorded several previously unheard Nolan songs like "Vagabond Whirlwinds," so fans and historians could hear these lost works for the first time. He also included a rare Tim Spencer composition, "Where are You?" to give us another glimpse of work produced by the Pioneers that has been "lost" for years. His love for the music of the singing cowboy and the West and it's history shows clearly in his own impressive compositions like the eerie "Ghost Town," the tribute to "Remington" and the nostalgic "A Faded Photograph." You'll enjoy Gene's interpretations of the classics and his new, original compositions as well.
-O.J. Sikes
*******
Gene Davenport has been singing western songs ever since he was in high school. A few years ago, thanks to the magic of modern recording technology, he decided to try recording harmony with himself. "Heck," he says, "people have often said that family members make the best harmony, and what's more family than yourself?"
For seven years, Gene performed most week-ends at the Casey Jones Village in Jackson, Tennessee, one of the top ten tourist spots in Tennessee. A founding member of the trio OK Chorale, he has performed either solo or with the trio in Laughlin, Nevada, at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, and at the Western Music Festival in Tucson, Arizona.
Gene also is a country and western music historian and has written some well-received songs of his own, as well as providing the music for Bob Nolan's lyrics on "The High Sierras". He puts bread and butter on the table by teaching religion at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee.
***
I have known Gene Davenport for a number of years as a scholar, a composer, a performer and a singer of classic western music and have always known him to be a man of great talent and integrity in every project he approaches. His music is a delight; faithful to the tradition while extremely creative within that tradition. Very very worthwhile checking out!
-Ranger Doug
Read more...
Please
log in to review the album.
author: Wayne Forsythe
Having followed the Sons of the Pioneers for most of life, and considering myself their biggest fan, I was excited to find this rare new CD of genuine western music. It holds to the tradition of the Pioneers while having a fresh, artistic approach. The voice is extremely inviting and the tracks are well arranged. Top pickin's, in my book, The Colorado Trail, Till You Return, and High Sierras. But the whole CD rides like a top hand along they canyon's rim! If you like real western music where you can smell the purple sage and wake up to a campfire on the trail--this is it. I'm happy to recommend it. Happy Trails!
Read more...
Great voice, fine mixture of new and old classics.
author: Andy Mowatt
Very nice voice. This album is a fine collection of new and classics songs of the Old West. Enjoyed it very much and I'm glad I bought it.
Read more...
A treat for all lovers of fine western music!
author: Wayne Austin, singer/songwriter
This wonderful CD offers a generous 21 tracks of great western music. These include songs by some of the greatest composers of western music as well as some new and first rate songs composed by Gene Davenport himself. And Gene's originals are some of my favorites on the disc. The songs are sung in rich and smooth harmonies (Gene sings all of the parts)and the back up instrumentation is stylish. Every song on the album is a real treat for lovers of fine western music, and "Vagabond Whirlwinds" (a previously unrecorded song by Bob Nolan)alone is worth the price of the disc. You'll find this a valuable addition to your library. You'll be happy with Gene's versions of familiar and unfamiliar songs by the greats along with Gene's own fine originals. It became one of my favorite albums the first time I played it!
Read more...
Gene rides down the old forgotten trail of western music.
author: Elizabeth Drake McDonald
Gene has collected a broad spectrum of western songs for this CD - from the traditional Colorado Trail, through the Singing Cowboy-influenced tunes and western swing of the 40’s, to his own fine compositions. His pleasant voice and relaxed style invite us to sing along with him.
Of particular interest to me as a Bob Nolan archivist is Gene’s faithful rendition of Nolan songs. As well as the classic Cool Water, Gene included three of Bob’s later songs: Till You Return, Vagabond Whirlwinds and High Sierras. Unaware that Bob had published sheet music for it, Gene wrote his own lovely melody for High Sierras.
Bob Nolan’s songs stand alone as poetry. Although he did create beautiful and memorable music, he considered himself principally a poet or lyricist. With this in mind, Gene has been working on a book of Bob’s poetry for publication. The book will salute Bob Nolan as a poet and introduce him to a new generation of readers and scholars.
Elizabeth Drake McDonald
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/htm/20355.html
Read more...