Multi-instrumentalist Dave Stover’s had more Crescent City musical projects and sit-in sessions than you’ve had hot meals, but for this pure-country EP he wisely traveled to the Northshore and picked up Brian “Bicycle” Jones, lead singer of the Training Wheels, to handle the vocals. Smart move: Jones’ voice, like his musical ethos, cuts new country with classic countrypolitan—Kenny Chesney shot through with George Jones—and it gives Stover’s usual hungover apologies a fresh and somewhat more serious context.
Those are almost certainly Dave’s lyrics on “Lucille” (“What really broke my heart was when you took my guitar”) and his ideas on “Drunken Promises” and “Mary Jane” (take a guess). That’s also the best dobro in town, longtime Stover collaborator Dave Easley, on these half-dozen tracks, and Will Darvill’s positively old-timey fiddle sighing throughout “Mary Jane” (“I’m always lookin’ for something I lost,” repeated 3 times for effect). The juxtaposition, especially on “Promises,” treats Stover’s usual regret as a failing instead of a drunken badge of honor. It’s the sound of someone, perhaps no one in particular, realizing that those hangovers gang up on you eventually. Or as Bicycle intones, “The same ol’ dance, just a different song.”
Those are almost certainly Dave’s lyrics on “Lucille” (“What really broke my heart was when you took my guitar”) and his ideas on “Drunken Promises” and “Mary Jane” (take a guess). That’s also the best dobro in town, longtime Stover collaborator Dave Easley, on these half-dozen tracks, and Will Darvill’s positively old-timey fiddle sighing throughout “Mary Jane” (“I’m always lookin’ for something I lost,” repeated 3 times for effect). The juxtaposition, especially on “Promises,” treats Stover’s usual regret as a failing instead of a drunken badge of honor. It’s the sound of someone, perhaps no one in particular, realizing that those hangovers gang up on you eventually. Or as Bicycle intones, “The same ol’ dance, just a different song.”
