Davin James

It’s no accident Davin James begins Palmer Lake with a series of life-is-good strummers about family life and simple pleasures. Since recovering from a heart attack, James has toned his hard-charging image down, and this set reveals a markedly mellower but assuredly wiser man. Like his compadre Jesse Dayton, James totally grasps the unique groove of the Gulf Coast, and one of the sweetest voices in Texas allows him to range effortlessly from George Jones country to the closest thing a redneck is ever likely to get to Otis Redding on “Felt A Delta”. The catchy “Ain’t No Soul on the Radio” is a stone-cold Hank Williams homage lambasting the sterility of country radio.