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| I knew I was addicted to country music videos when I started watching them with the sound off. All those barns, all those tight jeans, all those retro kitchens, carnival workers, and abandoned bridges--who needed the music? And for reasons that aren't quite clear to me, Delta 88's music calls up similar images, even though they haven't quite made it to Great American Country's Top 15 videos.
Delta 88's debut CD is a feast of imaginary music videos, kicking off with "Stone Quarry" (I envision small town views, kids in Keds, then older kids in Keds, a pretty girl, sun-dappled trees, dirt roads). Then comes the daffy, rollicking "Rollin' On" (shot in an empty barn, band way in the background, singer Danny Kline way up front, just like the mix--all intercut with shots of highways, cars, gas stations) and "Feelin' Low" (out in the desert, band up front, Danny Kline way back by a cactus, kicking the sand, then suddenly joined by the population of a small town singing backup as the sun sets). You get the picture. None of this is to say that Delta 88 needs some hot-shot video director to make these songs complete. Not at all.
I've seen this band three times now: at this year's BobFest--where they got a standing ovation; at Arbor Brewing Company; and at a genuine, historic speakeasy so cool that I'm gonna keep its location a secret, and where a lucky, invited few sat transported for two hours. The band's built around Kline's songs--spare, haunting marvels that are given flight by some terrific, understated, yet thoroughly original music. The arrangements are a group effort courtesy of guitarist Alex Anest, force-of-nature bassist John Sperendi, and drummer Jim Latini.
Delta 88 describes their sound as "hard-driving American music." That fits sometimes, but it doesn't describe the gentle, intelligent dreaminess that's a throughline here. Kline's words are a plain-spoken poetry, sad but so pretty you don't mind, and sung with a just-right weariness. But just when you're lulled into the desired emotional landscape (barren, tumbleweeds, stark beauty, maybe an oil rig), Delta 88 turns it around with something like Anest's rowdy "Smoke #20," complete with 5-piece horn section and a sense of humor. On one night when I saw them, Kline even crooned "Summertime" and "You Don't Know Me." Very nice.
To see why Delta 88 is my current favorite local band, catch the group Sunday, August 20, at Arbor Brewing Company; Tuesday, August 29, at the Del Rio; and Wednesday, August 30, at Babs'. |
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