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Album Review
Not being big on vanities, I really hesitated to post
this thread. However today I got an advanced copy of the
new John Davis record, and it's good. Really good. So
then I figured, "what the heck?", and I decided to write
a short review of the album.
Some of you folks may remember Mr. John Davis as the
frontman for Knoxville TN's Superdrag, who blended
American rock & roll with sounds of the British invasion
with a little bit of country twang mixed in for good
measure. 4 full-lengths, a handfull of EP's, and gallons
and gallons of Jack Daniel's later, John Davis was at the
end of his rope.
On what he now refers to as his own trip down the Road To
Damascus, Davis was driving down Tennessee's Interstate
40 making his way to get fitted for a tuxedo for his
wedding. Suddenly, he was overcome with a feeling he can
only describe as "getting hit with a cannonball".
"I knew at that moment the Lord was dealing with me like
He never had before," Davis says. "Before I had a chance
to think about what I was doing, I started to pray,
asking God to tell me something. I kept saying it over
and over. I didn't hear a voice; I felt a voice," he
says. "And I knew in that instant the hole inside of me
would never be filled with a bottle of booze. I was tired
of running away. I submitted to Him, and I quit drinking,
right then and there."
Thin, pale, and jaundiced, his family doctor affirmed
that Davis had reached the point of liver toxicity.
Superdrag's 4th and final album, Last Call for Vitriol,
was released in 2002, and Superdrag carried on a
typically ambitious touring schedule in support of the
record. But something had changed: "On those last tours,
there were nights I'd look at the crowd, and think 'I
don't belong here.' These kids would show up at 5 p.m.
when we loaded in, and they were already hammered. Then
I'd look out during the show that night and see them
throwing beer and stumbling around. I felt like the
ringleader of something I was no longer a part of. I
questioned everything, and I reached a point where the
whole thing felt dishonest to me."
After the last tour culminated with one final show and a
double-live CD at The Paradise in Boston, Superdrag took
a hiatus. John Davis' personal goal was to find work as a
solo artist by the end of 2003, or settle for session
work or a "straight job" outside of the music industry.
Nashville producer R. S. Field, who Davis had met in
2001, offered him session work for Allison Moorer, where
he played bass, acoustic guitar, organ, piano, and some
lead guitar on her album "The Duel", as well as a brief
touring stint on rhythm guitar in her band. The money,
Davis says, "bought me time to get my own thing off the
ground."
The "thing" John Davis came up with is a 12 song
masterpiece on which he wrote every song and played every
instrument except for sleigh bells, maracas, tambourines,
and a string arrangement.
While a lot of the music is the same old John Davis, song
titles like "I Hear Your Voice", "Salvation", "Jesus
Gonna Build Me A Home", and "Lay Your Burden Down" show
that this is going to be a quick departure from the usual
20-something self-loathing via whiskey bottle, pot pipe
and guitar that Davis spent most of the 1990's
perfecting. In fact, the songs that aren't about God and
Davis' redemption are about his beautiful wife (and
mother to his newborn son), Wendy.
Davis knew it would be tough to bring a lot of Superdrag
fans along for the ride of his newfound spirituality, and
in fact caught a lot of flack from them. His response to
that is his new song "Too Far Out".
As he sings to those dissafected fans, "If the
supernatural seems a little out there, maybe there's a
thing or two somebody ought to say to you. This same God
who spared an instant listening to my cries, opening my
disembodied eyes, yonder where the Spirit never dies /
said to paddle it in, son, you're too far out, don't get
too far out. You win some, you lose some. You can live
without. Then your life winds out. Are you in or out?
Thank you Jesus."
Eleven of the songs are about Christ's new plan for
Davis, and one exceptionally beautiful song that's
written in the vein of George Harrison's work, "Me And My
Girl", is about Wendy, John's wife. The rest of the album
deals with the pain that comes from a life of sin, and
the joy of redemption. A fair number of the songs are
based around a simple piano arrangement, with countrified
gospel vocals and simple guitars to round out the mix.
John Davis' classic, Beatle-esque background vocals, in
my opinion one of his strongest musical gifts, are added
like salt and pepper to various songs. The real rockers
of the 12 tracks are "Nothing Gets Me Down" "Have Mercy"
and "Too Far Out". Songs like "I Hear Your Voice", "The
Kind Of Heart", and "Stained Glass Window" feature John
at his piano for a bluesy, gospel feel, with limited
guitars backing up the simple melodies. Others, such as
"Salvation" and "Me And My Girl" are more poppy; more
accessable. The closing track, "Do You Know How Much
You've Been Loved" has certifiable Nashville twang, with
Davis breaking out the pedal steel guitars under lines
like "Your senses deceive you / but Christ can retrieve
you".
This is a great record for longtime fans of John Davis'
music, in addition to people who are looking for a little
country & blues with a higher meaning, fans of
contemporary Christian music and people who just like to
get down to a rockin' gospel sound.
My rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars. In the words of John
Davis, "Much Respect", from this Rock Soldier.
~
T Skoz
John Davis (Homepage)
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