Spotlight - Dave Blackledge
There's one thing that I really appreciate when it comes to music and that's humor.
I haven't seen a lot of it in the Pennsylvania music scene. The cool thing about
this style of music is that, as long as it's a good song, it doesn't matter what
kind of music it is. For example, I'm not too fond of country music. There's very
little that I actually like and we're talking serious country music here. But, I've
got a few albums in my collection that's pure country music. But, they're comedy songs
and they're funny and that's why I like them. In rock 'n' roll, there's a band I remember
called Mucky Pup. I can't remember the name of the album, which is kind of a bummer because
it makes searching for it a bit harder. But, they had a song called "You Make Me Sick...But I Love You,"
which is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. If you wanna go heavier, check out the debut
album by M.O.D. Heavy thrash/punk songs with a bit of humor...gotta love it. How about Weird
Al Yankovic...maybe he's not the best example in the world since he's known more as a parody
artist. But, on every album he's done, he's had a few originals on there as well...and during
the course of his career, he's covered a lot of musical styles.
Now, how about something in the singer/songwriter vein? I know some people think, yeah,
some guy with an acoustic guitar...BORING! I guess it all depends on your musical taste.
Hell, to be honest, I've even found some of that stuff boring myself. I've received albums to
review in that style that just didn't float my boat. I've also received some that did. Once again,
it all depends on your musical taste I guess. Anyway, I recently came in contact with a Pennsylvania
singer/songwriter named Dave Blackledge. He's got a rather interesting CD titled "Straight From
The Gut" that I'd like to tell you all about.
He's got a few serious tunes on this album, which are actually quite good. But, there's some
funny tunes on this release that I was instantly drawn to. You can't help but smile when you
hear songs like "The Night Pop Choked On A Chicken Bone," "I Got A Life But It Sucks," "Jesus
May Love You But I Think You're A Jerk" and "I Only Shot Her Once." I also had the pleasure of
seeing him perform live and, believe me, if you think this style of music is boring, find out where
Dave is playing next and go check him out. When he was on stage, he got a good reaction from the
crowd. People were paying attention because they didn't wanna miss anything and when he came off
with a funny line, everybody started screaming and yelling. For a musician, that's what it's all
about, isn't it? I saw him live before I heard this release and, one thing's for sure, I wasn't
disappointed when I got home and gave "Straight From The Gut" a listen...and you won't be disappointed either.
On the web:
http://www.singersongwriter.ws