Dave Insley
West Texas Wine
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also available on amazon
This gem of a disc by one of the most creative songwriters in the Southwest music scene to come along in a long time, he wrote 5 of the 10 tunes on this disc. The songs that he covers don’t interrupt the flow of the disc, but rather enhance it; Fuzzy Owens’ Ol’ What’s Her Name, and Michael Ferrell’s Drinkin’ for Two, are two that stand out as they reflect the dryness of the land that invades the countryside and the thinking. His road band, The Careless Smokers, tightly backs his distinctive slightly raspy voice. . His voice has that baked by the sun, caressed, wetted and soothed by the West Texas wine, and has that sandpapery feel that comes from pushing it night after night in places that are too smoky. They are tight in a way that only comes from the many long miles on the road playing nightly in the honky tonks can make a band. The band is propelled by Bobby Snell’s steel guitar, which echoes that high lonesome quality that comes with his voice in
that land of windswept cactus and dust, dotted with scrub plants that cling tenuously to the hard baked ground that is the norm; the definite but light touch on the drums by Daniel Jones, an understated electric guitar and backing vocals by Dale Allen who also co-produced; and Vance Hazen on bass. This is a disc of love and failed love given a distinctive touch by one of the more in tune songsmiths working today, with music that gives an accurate reflection of the sentiment contained in the songs. Straight ahead with few frills.