Album Notes

Young singer/songwriter aims for the folk genius of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan.

-By Michael Sutton (www.cdreviews.com)

Twentysomething folk artist Gypsy Dave doesn't sound like his age, something that will most likely be brought up by other critics. It's not a criticism, merely an observation. In fact, in some ways it's a compliment because it's encouraging to hear a man in his college years who isn't attempting to be emo or the next John Mayer. No, this is a different kind of "acoustic pop," not the smoothed-over commercial grooves of Mayer and his followers.

Gypsy Dave is a man out of his time, writing and recording songs that could've been played on backwoods AM radio stations in the '50s and '60s. The obvious influence is folk icon Woody Guthrie, whose overpowering shadow towers over nearly every track here. Like Guthrie, Gypsy Dave empathizes with the common man, namely the blue-collar workers that really pieced this country together. "Union Man," written by coal miner Albert Morgan around 1946, sets the tone; even if the words weren't by Gypsy Dave himself, it fits snugly into the context of the record, which peers nostalgically back into small-town life.

Gypsy Dave's songs define real American roots music, combining folk, bluegrass, and country without any studio slickness. Gypsy Dave and his fellow musicians use traditional instruments - for example, banjo, kazoo, and fiddle - to capture earlier time periods. Thankfully, none of it feels forced or fake; Gypsy Dave's love for this material cannot be doubted.

The best song here is the title track, wherein Gypsy Dave looks out at an uncertain future. While on some level it can be interpreted as 21st century angst, his fears are timeless. Even 50 or so years ago many young men didn't know what to do with their lives; if they all did, there'd be nothing to sing about.

www.thegypsydave.com