ALBUM REVIEW

Dennis Davis
BAREFOOT ON THE BEACH
©2006 Independently released
MTM244901
Review by Jinelle Boyd
Co-Founder, MyTexasMusic.com

It’s a scary thing – CD reviews, that is. Sometimes you get your hopes up because something about the packaging appeals to you, and as you begin to listen, you realize what’s inside wasn’t what you were expecting at all. In the case of “BAREFOOT ON THE BEACH”, the debut project from Angleton’s Dennis Davis, I was rewarded with much more than I anticipated. This is not another beachy-sounding Jimmy Buffet-wannabe collection of flaky songs. Oh, no, no! It took several songs for me to realize that it’s just impossible to pigeon-hole Dennis into any one genre of music. This guy is all over the place, musically, which is a wonderful testament to his many musical influences. Imagine if James Taylor and Maria Muldaur had a love child and they played records for him by Buffalo Springfield, "The Buff" and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – voila! Dennis Davis. The underlying thread throughout this disc is FUN FUN FUN – the music is light and breezy, with excellent use of different instruments not found in the cookie-cutter crapola usually played on radio these days. “Feel-good” all the way through without being flaky or mushy. Excellent songwriting, masterful guitar, and wonderful vocal delivery. It’s a shame Dennis was not an Academy member prior to the Texas Music Awards deadline this year – we all might have just seen him on the nominee list! I, for one, am Dennis Davis’ newest fan – I anticipate many wonderful things from him in the future. Until then, grab this disc – it doesn’t matter WHAT kind of music you like, you’ll dig this project, and it's the PERFECT CD to put in the player when you're having a party and don't want to have to keep changing discs!
 

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