Winston-Salem is presently short on places to hear live homemade music -- a shame, given the inordinate number of high-quality bands and singer-songwriters in town.
That means that it's important to support the local musicians and bands when they release a worthy new CD. What follow are reviews of three CDs by people either living in or from Winston-Salem that, for the most part, are deserving of attention on a national scale.
Greg Humphreys, Trunk Songs (www.greghumphreys.net): Greg Humphreys, a Triangle resident, is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Winston-Salem who has long flirted with national fame -- first with the collegiate pop band Dillon Fence, then, for the past 12 years, as the frontman for Hobex, a rootsier band.
Humphrey's recently released Trunk Songs is a mad mix of stylistically diverse songs, most of them original, that show Humphreys' appreciation for the power of singer and song, acoustic and in the raw. These relaxed performances sound as if they were captured live in a front room or on a back porch. All flubs are left intact -- a bit of honesty that adds charm to already potent performances.
The songwriting shows the full reach of Humphreys' talents and tastes as he uses his natural instinct for creating pop hooks and his soulful voice to add dimension to songs that move from roots-pop and straight-up blues to country and bluegrass.
Trunk Songs is disarming, personal and intimately engagingly, a document of one man‘s musical journey and a quiet testimonial to musical integrity.
(Greg Humphreys will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Garage with Sally Spring & Ted Lyons and Little Pink. Admission is $10.)
Jerry Chapman Sweet Impossible (www.jerrychapman.com): Jerry Chapman has been a fixture of the Winston-Salem music scene for more than 20 years, working in numerous popular bands, playing his pop-friendly compositions in one band while paying bills performing cover songs in another. Along the way, he has released a number of fine solo albums, but the new Sweet Impossible is the best work of Chapman's career, impressive by any standard.
Years of playing various styles of music and writing songs finally coalesce into an instantly enticing and exceptionally strong album. Chapman has always been lyrically smart, and Sweet Impossible is no exception; Chapman probes the narrow, tough corners of life and love in a manner unpredictable and provocative.
All songs have sharp hooks, some flaunted, others seductively subtle. The album was made in Nashville with seasoned players, which translates into perceptive playing and clever arrangements that create perfect moods. Extra points for a great version of Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't It Be Good" that emphasizes that Chapman knows good pop when he hears it --and makes it.
Doug Davis,Penny Brown Penny (www.flytrapmusicproduction.com): The multi-talented Doug Davis, as with his pal and sometimes-collaborator Jerry Chapman, has long been a ubiquitous presence on the Winston-Salem scene. But only recently has Davis' abilities as a songwriter -- the heart of Penny Brown Penny -- begged to be appreciated on the same high level as his singing and playing.
Davis sings with passion in a range that recalls that of the late Steve Marriott -- like Davis a singer and songwriter intent on bridging pop, rock and soul under one umbrella. Penny Brown Penny opens with a rocker ("Long-Time Coming") that owes much, almost too much, to Keith Richards ("Happy") and Marriott's work with the Small Faces. But as the album progresses, Davis adds his spin to time-tested formula, churning out songs that get stronger as the album progresses. The playing is pro, and Davis' voice is continually impressive, but it's his songwriting -- particularly such ballads as "Something's Happened" -- that shows him to be a songwriter well on his way to individuality.
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