Stephanie Davis | Western Bliss and Western Bling
Published: August 31, 2009
The pinnacle of musical success is finally being able to do any project you want. After spending a good number of years writing hit songs for others in Nashville, Columbus singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Stephanie Davis is devoting time to new things.
The first two volumes of a promised series, Western Bliss and Western Bling, have hit the shelves.
The two collections feature 11 tunes each, the same production team and accompanists, and cover art by none other than Missoula artist Monte Dolack. Both albums have descriptive and humorous track-by-track notes, with material selected by Davis that hasn’t “been recorded to death.”
Indeed, there’s only one Davis original here, Western Bliss’s “Trail’s End Theme Song,” written for her upcoming radio show.
Bliss has a layout that’s typical of Davis’s recordings: It’s earthy, covers a lot of geography, and has plenty of belt-buckle shiners. The well-known refrain “Howl away, you old coyote” starts us off in “Montana Cowgirl”; Davis calls “Hittin’ the Trail Tonight” a “blisstastic gem”; and “Bronco Buster’s Ball” is a get-up-and-dance tune with lots of fiddle.
Creamy pedal steel permeates “Leanin’ on the Old Top Rail”; “Navajo Trail” provides a nice clip-clop pace; and “Texas Blues” will put the swivel in your hips.
Davis’s polished delivery is as comfortable and full of character as an old cowboy boot. There’s superb music from the “Texas swing musicians that have her spoiled.” By choosing not to play an instrument, she’s letting her voice do the work, and the result is effortless and relaxing.
On Western Bling, she lets the 1940s girl singer out. We’re talking smoky ballrooms without the smoke – just sultry atmosphere with jazzy overtones, and heavy-lidded delivery. Hints of Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney, Jo Stafford – but tilted westward.
Davis runs through a couple Bob Wills tunes, the shuffly “Talkin’ ’Bout You” and the loping “I Didn’t Realize.” There’s a really blinged-out version of Bobby Darin’s hip-shaker, “Beyond the Sea,” and Cindy Walker’s “Baby, That Sure Would Go Good,” has waa-oohs by the boys.
Davis’s favorite song on the project, Walker’s “Goin’ Away Party,” has first-take vocals – no mean feat – and a sound that’s so western, it’s practically Hawaiian.
“Slow Poke” has a nice ticking rhythm and great instrumental interplay, and cool sleepy pedal steel infuses “If I Had You.” Davis says, “This one slips into our Western Bling format like deer guts on a doorknob.” Gotta love it!
Visit the artist at www.stephaniedavis.net
– Mariss McTucker
