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Ryan Davis + The Roadhouse Band
After more than 15 years of releasing music on labels like Feeding Tube, Load Records, Astral Editions, Bruit Direct Disques, Petty Bunco, All Gone and others (including, if not primarily, his very own Sophomore Lounge imprint) as/alongside such outfits as State Champion, Tropical Trash, Equipment Pointed Ankh, Roadhouse, et al., Dancing on the Edge – a seven-song, 53-minute basement folk opus, self-released at the end of 2023 and recently reissued by Tough Love in the UK/EU – is the first collection of material produced under Kentuckiana-based visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ryan Davis’ birth name.
The tunes on the album range from bare-boned, achingly crooned avant-folk tales to jovial, collaborative excursions into long-form experimental country-tinged rock modes. Continuing in the tradition of the TVZs, Terry Allens, Souled Americans and DC Bermans before him, this 2XLP reimagines the exceedingly dated archetypes of modern day indie troubadour music and the inherent trappings therein. Davis’ solo debut is a dense collection of Americana-Noir that navigates a familiar yet alternate reality, one of enchanted mundanity and uniquely Mid-Southern introspection. Simultaneously antisocial and outwardly inviting, free of cynicism yet slightly stepped in paranoia, Dancing on the Edge is as delicately choreographed and emotionally connective as it is, at times, absurd.
The Roadhouse band, as it’s been assembled to meet increasing demands for live performances this summer and fall, features members of Kentucky-based experimental unit Equipment Pointed Ankh, Nashville songwriting voltron Styrofoam Winos and Athens’ bummer country/power-poppers Little Gold in a certain-to-dazzle assembly of both labelmates and friends.
“This is the sound of someone bearing a torch.” – Bill Callahan
“Davis’ talents are immense: vivid imagery and clever one-liners pulling epiphanies from the sacred, mundane and profane.” – Jon Blister (Rolling Stone)
“On the latest and perhaps greatest notch in the storied songwriter’s belt, Ryan Davis is tipping his beer to a world in moral and constitutional decline.” – Chad DePasquale (Aquarium Drunkard)
“[His solo debut] Dancing on the Edge is singular and strong enough to put Davis in a league with some of the very best American songwriters of the past and present. He’s someone with the originality, wit and ambition to cut through the murk. Someone worth paying attention to.” – Tyler Wilcox (Uncut)
“Ryan Davis’ great debut as a titular band leader is one of the finest beard rock slabs of the century.” – Byron Cole
