These were difficult songs to record and even harder to write. There is real risk in making one's self so vunerable and exposed. It hurts. Each day is what you make of it. Life goes on…..
Yours truly,
A Mental Disorder
A seasoned and accomplished veteran of recording and performing, Dave Desmelik is a singer/songwriter and instrumentalist based in Brevard, NC USA. With songs raw and unapologetic, There and Then (July 1992 - December Read more
A seasoned and accomplished veteran of recording and performing, Dave Desmelik is a singer/songwriter and instrumentalist based in Brevard, NC USA. With songs raw and unapologetic, There and Then (July 1992 - December 1994) is Desmelik's 17th independent release. It is an extremely personal journey into the trials and tribulations of a young man trying to find his way in the world.
Spencer Jones (music host from WNCW Radio) says of this album....
"Driving around my town of Brevard, listening to Dave Desmelik’s newest album, there is a feeling of familiarity and of coming home. In the quintessential Western North Carolina Americana artist’s new album 'There and Then (July 1992-December 1994)', Dave strikes tones of home from a different time and place – the road. He draws on nostalgic, creative foundations laid on western highways in the early 1990’s. The album as a whole shows a vulnerable artist putting shapes and forms on his creative impulses and examining the foundations of a lifelong passion. The deep, ripping electric guitar by Desmelik (and Steve Mayone on 'Crazy Life') stand out as highlights which underlie the depth of emotion in the words. The banjo work of Bow Thayer in 'Rand McNally' provides welcome sentiments of Appalachia in an album with a Western mindset.
Passages from 'Risking' and 'Crazy Life' feel as if they were taken directly from journals with a reverence for their creation that comes through the lens of self-reflection and time. 'Rand McNally' compliments the album’s theme with an ode to the unintentional itinerary across deserts, cities, and scenes from Arizona to Oregon. It awakens the sense of wide-open spaces fostered by youth and travel. The opener 'Me & Bob Marley' is an open road tune that references the deep dives drivers take with an artist during long haul marathon hours on the highway.
The album emphasizes the impetuous essence of the singer’s psyche and hard scrabble nature of his travels and aspirations to create. Vulnerable to the core, the songs examine a tender and profound creative flash point when keeping the pen on paper was a discipline and changes in scenery were a constant. 'New Chapter', the album’s closer, reveals the resolve to go forward and the spirit of an artist whose steel has been tempered by experience.
I love the nostalgia and genuine vulnerability of this album. It shows a songwriter of great discipline digging into his origins and sharing a chapter that, while looking back, sounds here & now."
Spencer Jones (music host from WNCW Radio) says of this album....
"Driving around my town of Brevard, listening to Dave Desmelik’s newest album, there is a feeling of familiarity and of coming home. In the quintessential Western North Carolina Americana artist’s new album 'There and Then (July 1992-December 1994)', Dave strikes tones of home from a different time and place – the road. He draws on nostalgic, creative foundations laid on western highways in the early 1990’s. The album as a whole shows a vulnerable artist putting shapes and forms on his creative impulses and examining the foundations of a lifelong passion. The deep, ripping electric guitar by Desmelik (and Steve Mayone on 'Crazy Life') stand out as highlights which underlie the depth of emotion in the words. The banjo work of Bow Thayer in 'Rand McNally' provides welcome sentiments of Appalachia in an album with a Western mindset.
Passages from 'Risking' and 'Crazy Life' feel as if they were taken directly from journals with a reverence for their creation that comes through the lens of self-reflection and time. 'Rand McNally' compliments the album’s theme with an ode to the unintentional itinerary across deserts, cities, and scenes from Arizona to Oregon. It awakens the sense of wide-open spaces fostered by youth and travel. The opener 'Me & Bob Marley' is an open road tune that references the deep dives drivers take with an artist during long haul marathon hours on the highway.
The album emphasizes the impetuous essence of the singer’s psyche and hard scrabble nature of his travels and aspirations to create. Vulnerable to the core, the songs examine a tender and profound creative flash point when keeping the pen on paper was a discipline and changes in scenery were a constant. 'New Chapter', the album’s closer, reveals the resolve to go forward and the spirit of an artist whose steel has been tempered by experience.
I love the nostalgia and genuine vulnerability of this album. It shows a songwriter of great discipline digging into his origins and sharing a chapter that, while looking back, sounds here & now."
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Me and Bob Marley 3:290:00/3:29
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Rand McNally 3:480:00/3:48
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Risking 8:220:00/8:22
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Crazy Life 9:450:00/9:45
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New Chapter 5:400:00/5:40
