My friend Chris Jones posted this review on the Eurotraders list:
The many faces of David Gans: Gans and Rawlins – Desert Wind, Rollin’ River
It’s amazing how many different approaches David takes to music.
Desert Wind, Rollin’ River is not as muscular as Gans’ Stage Stop solo show (which I reviewed earlier): rather it’s more of a gentle, lyrical journey – across America and through different decades – by a couple of old friends, and listening to it, I can picture them swapping yarns round the camp fire along the way.
There’s nothing challenging about the music – it’s not a dramatic symphony, more of a gentle serenade – but sometimes that’s just what you need. Something warm, friendly and familiar; two people in perfect harmony on vocals and guitar accompaniment.
Each of the songs tells a story, and most of them are on the theme of travelling, whether it’s “Waltzing Across Texas”, “Going Back to Georgia”, or “Leavin’ Louisiana”, and each of them is delivered with just the perfect amount of joy or pathos.
Gans and Rawlins have been “making music together, mostly at parties and occasionally in public, for more than 20 years” and it’s clear that over this time they’ve developed the strongest of musical relationships. They fit together like a pair of fine silk gloves, with a similar shape and style and supremely comfortable together, but complementary – each one working with the other to provide a balanced whole.
One of the songs strays further afield – to “Kilkelly” in Ireland. It tells a sad story which reminds us that we didn’t always have modern communications, and those people who emigrated from Ireland or the UK to the other side of the world (America or Australia) would probably never see their homeland and their parents again.
There’s one cover that I’m familiar with – the superb “Wheels” by Chris Hillman of the Flying Burrito Brothers (from their 1968 album The Gilded Palace of Sin) – and, appropriately, that’s about travelling, too.
The last Track, “What’s Your Name,” is pure doo-wop and could have been written in the fifties (and possibly was)
It’s such an intimate recording that it sounds as if they could be playing in your own front room – and, as it happens, the recording was made in David Gans’ living room, and that’s an immense contribution to its considerable charm. The album was recorded by Stephen Barncard and, as you can imagine, it’s of the highest quality.
You can find out more and read other feedback here:
https://flink.livedownloads.com/show.asp?show=7136
And you can buy it (and all David’s other releases) at
www.dgans.com/discography and also in the iTunes store, HDTracks.com,
CDBaby.com, and other online retailers.
This is probably my favourite of all David’s many recordings, and I do urge you to give it a listen – and to buy it too!
CJ