David Roth
"Pearl Diver"
by Johanna J. Bodde
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There's another CD released in producer Gunter Pauler's series, filled with interesting singer-songwriters! The lucky one, who was spoiled by him this time with all the optimum recording facilities, listens to the name David Roth. Hailing from Chicago, now living in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, he brought already six CD's on the American market. For these recordings he travelled with two acoustic guitars to Northeim, Germany. Gunter waited there, with the late master-guitarist Chris Jones and the rest of his team, like multi-instrumentalist Beo Brockhausen who specializes in the unusual sounds of gu-zheng, sarod, santur and uillean pipe chanter, among others. The backgroundvocals are sung by Christina, Christiane and Christine, no triplets! The virtuoso accompaniment is so well-balanced, that most attention still goes to David's vocal. He is a sweet-voiced folksinger, who makes us think of Michael Friedman, Eugene Ruffolo and Michael Weston King. David also brings a lot of feelings into his songs, he is a real storyteller, who lets life itself inspire him. "That Kind Of Grace" -anchored in famous "Amazing Grace"- refers to the bombing of a church, the shooting at a school and the murder of a young homosexual man, moving. Just like "Bake Sale": an old baker has to close his shop for good. Or "Mother's Day Card", about David's mother who sang with a big band. Or "Flag Of Hope", the story of a soldier who takes a Japanese flag from the battle field. The instrumental "St. Blasien Breath"is really special too, David plays it on the triple ocarina. The... what? See the pictures in the good-looking CD-booklet: a wind-instrument made of baked clay. (David Roth just released "More Pearls", with his take on a selection of evergreens.) --- Written by Johanna J. Bodde, Dutch original of this review previously published on Real Roots Cafe, The Netherlands. ===== |
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