Dennis Davis “BAREFOOT ON THE BEACH” ©2006 Mosquito Productions Review by Jinelle Boyd 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! Dennis Davis Bio: The sign in his office says “Life’s too short not to live it as a Texan”. After a long journey that started in Michigan, took him to Europe and various other destinations in between, Dennis settled on the Texas gulf coast to call home. “I’ve been playing guitar and singing as long as I can remember, usually just for my own benefit and enjoyment. Every once in a while I’d break out with a song or two at a talent show or a party and I found out that the guitar player singer guy quickly became pretty popular… well… I’m not gonna lie, the attention has always been fun.” “The first concert I ever went to was an acoustic deal with Harry Chapin, Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver and James Taylor… no band, just those guys backing each other up. When I started playing the guitar, that was the kind of stuff I was playing. When I got a little older I turned into a big time Parrot Head and wanted to be Jimmy Buffett. I did the cover band thing for a while, played in smaller groups and lots of solo stuff… so that’s sort of how things started and how I got to this point.” For the last few years, Dennis has focused more on writing and has performed mostly for benefits and private events. With the release of this CD, he plans on a more frequent performance schedule. His first CD is appropriately titled, “Barefoot on the Beach”, somewhere he loves to be, and has a little something for everyone. Thirteen songs with a definite gulf coast flavor, “Barefoot” blends country, pop, and beach all together. “I try not to get too serious when I write” says Dennis, “I mostly like music that makes you feel good. I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out what somebody is trying to say. Good times, sad times, laughs, and love are all pretty straight forward.” “I think Barefoot is upbeat and positive. That’s the feeling I wanted for my first CD. There are a lot of different flavors as far as the music goes but the message is pretty feel good in all of them. I hope you find something there that you like.”