Dallas Wayne – I’m Your Biggest Fan

Honky-tonk is alive and well and living inside of Dallas Wayne, and he lets it out to roam the prairie on this exemplary new album. Wayne, now based in Texas, went back to his hometown of Springfield, Missouri, to record. And Springfield is no ordinary hometown — it’s also home to one of the finest bands in the land, the Skeletons, who back him here on these dozen new tunes.

Producer and bassist Lou Whitney excels at maintaining warmth and interplay among musicians who flourish when playing off of one another. When he throws in a noticeable bit of production filigree, it’s rare and a doozy, such as the verse delivered with intimate telephone-fidelity in the creepy tale of fan stalking that gave this disc its title.

Not merely excelling with his full-bodied baritone voice, Wayne continues to write songs that better-known players in the world of country music should bow before. It takes a clear eye to render a first-person narrative of a homeless man without succumbing to maudlin cliches. It’s a testament to Wayne’s writing that “Under The Overpass” works; he finds the small details that allow him a way in to the character and also translate well to song, detailing losses not limited to just home and possessions but also love.