Moot Davis – Already Moved On

There seemed to be new-era indie solo acts toying with more or less updated honky-tonk in every town just a few years back. They’re pruned back by now, the faddests having left the barrooms. The very talented, assertive and edgy vocalist Moot Davis came along just late enough to stand alone and apart from his immediate predecessors, and with Pete Anderson producing him and providing lead guitar, his 2004 debut disc was very well-received.

This long-anticipated follow-up shows performing growth in its stretching sounds. Davis shows twangful honky-tonk vocal mastery on the loping, fiddle-backed brew-crier “Talkin’ About Lonely”, co-written (as are most of the new tracks) with producer Anderson, and also, in a different and darker mood, on the story-song “Way Down Town”. The closing cover tune, Johnny Paycheck’s “I’m The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised”, is a pleasingly fresh choice, and it chugs.

A qualm, though: While some lyric ideas here are fully developed (the clever “Foreclosures & Repossessions”, for one), others never transcend their initial one-note stake, or supply that memorable country turnaround. It’s hard to be take-notice fresh “talkin’ about lonely” in the wake of the Don Gibson and Roger Miller turns. But that’s the context now, and we’ll anticipate with confidence Moot and company scoring more consistently with that aspect of the songmaking in the future.