Covers Celebration
David Munyon is a truly great American singer/songwriter I
am slowly discovering, acquiring and listening to his work which is unfailingly
idiosyncratic – essentially his gravelly and emotively charged vocal - and
consistently perfect in performance. He would seem to be relatively unknown for
someone of such notable talent: his Wikipedia page is in German [or Dutch?],
and an allmusic bio reads simply David is
a hard-driving guitarist and blues-based singer/songwriter. The
exemplification of litotes and a clear refutation of the notion that less is
more.
The album I am listening to as I write is his 2009 Big Shoes, a set of sixteen covers. Each
track is a beautiful interpretation and rendition of a well-known song – an astonishing
album of sustained excellence. He achieves what Jimmy Lafave has singing Dylan,
and Munyon includes two Dylan covers on this album. The most surprising success
on Big Shoes is perhaps Price’s Purple Rain, but when one realises how
much he moulds every song to his distinctive style/sound, it isn’t then really
that unusual. The same could be observed with Cat Steven’s Father and Son. I’ll pick three favourites for further illustration
of the range, but it is a nuanced choice from sixteen redefined hits: Ol’ 55 [Tom Waits]; Who’ll Stop The Rain [John Fogerty]; Sugar Mountain [Neil Young].
Hell, make that four: Atlantic
City [Bruce Springsteen]. This album is a celebration in so many ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment