DAVID NEWBOULD
Tennessee
Newbould, David

www.davidnewbould.com
 

It took two years and an 850-mile move from Austin to Nashville for singer-songwriter Newbould to assemble his newest album, Tennessee, composed of a dozen naturalistic, detail-packed songs that seem more like short-short stories set to music. Influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan’s heartland poetry, Bruce Springsteen’s blue-collar anthems and Neil Young’s organic folk-rock, Newbould nevertheless manages to carve out his own wide-ranging Americana-oriented sound. Working with a talented group of Nashville veterans (including pedal steel first calls Dan Dugmore and Justin Ward and versatile keyboardists Micah Hulscher and Adlai Waxman) Newbould particularly impresses on the metaphysical disclosure “Lucinda” (that he describes as a combination of Death Of A Salesman and The Hangover), the buoyant “Always Coming Home,” an unwaveringly optimistic “Trying To Find The Good In Seeing Things” and a bluesy “Drifting Wayward.” The equally ambitious follow-up to Newbould’s previous CD/DVD project, The Long Way Home: David Newbould and Friends Live From Austin, that not only documents his energetic stage show but is a fitting adieu to his former home.

— Gary von Tersch