Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 03/22/2005
Dave Insley's music is steeped in
traditional country. Much like kindred spirits
Junior Brown,
Wayne Hancock, and
the Derailers,
Insley harks back to the days (and nights) when honky tonks populated the American southwest. With his plaintive twang, he sings about such timeless
country music themes as love and loss, farming and cowboys. He even has two tunes with the word "mountain" in the title. Standout numbers like
"There's Gonna Be a Few Changes," "I'm Afraid of Dyin'," and the title track would have fit in well with the tunes that
Ernest Tubb and
Buck Owens used to rule the
country airwaves. The tongue-twisting ditty
"Rob Boy" sounds like something
Johnny Cash might have followed
"Boy Named Sue" up with. These comparisons aren't to say that
Insley is a derivative artist; it's just that he often works within
traditional styles. He isn't such a traditionalist, however, that he won't let the electric guitars rock out at times. Both
"Laid to Waste" and the
soul-charged
"Own a Mountain" flash some
arena rock riffs. More interesting, from an arrangement standpoint, is the occasional use of saxophones and even a clarinet -- instruments not often associated with
country music. While a little jarring at first, these horns do make sense as
Insley's music is drawn from the roadhouses, where
R&B and
honky tonk weren't far removed from each other.
Ted Belledin's clarinet gives an unusual twist to
"Gilded Cage"'s
Western swing. Besides
Belledin's clarinet and sax work,
Insley also gets strong support from such players as veteran
Dave Alvin guitarist
Rick Shea, one-time
Glen Campbell fiddler
Ron Rutkowski, and
rockabilly filly
Rosie Flores, who lends her vocals to
"Maricopa Mountains." Call Me Lonesome is an impressive debut filled with plenty of old-school
country charms but nicely updated with a few contemporary touches.
~Michael Berick, All Music Guide
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