Dave Insley
Here with You Tonight

(D.I.R.)

First Appeared in The Music Box, April 2007, Volume 14, #4

Written by John Metzger

Like Dwight Yoakam, Dave Insley spent his formative years tailoring his country-oriented output for a punk rock audience. Where Yoakam steeped his material in the Bakersfield sounds of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, however, Insley found inspiration within the wide-ranging, Texas-brewed works of Willie Nelson. In fact, by the time that Insley issued his solo debut Call Me Lonesome a full 21 years later, he had embraced the Red-Headed Stranger’s approach completely. On his latest effort Here with You Tonight, Insley wisely does little to alter his formula, and throughout the set, he effortlessly mixes gently rolling melodies (Open Road) with Mexican flavorings (South of the Border) and pedal steel-drenched honky-tonk (Other Trails to Ride) with blues-imbued spirituals (Grace). Even his quirky lyrics — "Jesus was a long-hair, and he wore those Roman sandals like no Okie would," he sings on God Loves the Working Man — as well as the quaver in his voice owe a tremendous debt to Nelson. There’s little doubt that Insley is going to have to start to distance himself from his idol and stake out his own claim to fame. In the meantime, though, it’s hard to quibble with the results, considering how closely his work resembles Nelson’s groundbreaking pursuits as a country renegade during the early ’70s.

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Ratings

1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2007 The Music Box