I wanted to share with you all an album of original instrumentals I've been working on over the last few months, as a tribute to my dad, who passed away in March. It's embedded here as a YouTube video, and there' a free download link as well. The notes to the album (which I copied from the YouTube video description) are pasted below in a spoiler.
I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to share if you do
Thanks for listening!
KD
Download link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/kupi8n5c ... 9.rar/file
- Spoiler: show
- Kevin Davis
MY FATHER'S HOUSE
Recorded April-July 2024
0:00 We Buried a Rock
3:40 Here Comes Hare-Ington
6:05 Catfish and Coconuts
9:32 Red Pillow Red Blanket
12:58 Ask For Gee
16:53 Library Bag
19:04 The One Dollar Question
22:53 She's An Artist, Just Like You
Kevin Davis: guitars, "bass," loop prep
Cecelia Davis: keyboards (2,7)
Cover art: Rachel Davis
Thanks to the Looperman online community for the samples
All songs by Kevin Davis
(#7 by Kevin and Cecelia Davis)
This is a collection of instrumental pieces I composed and recorded in memory of and tribute to my father, who passed away in March 2024. “Composed” is a loose term, as most of these pieces were little more than sketches (a chord progression here, a bassline there) when I sat down in front of the mic to record them. It was there, with the red light on, and with nearly 41 years of stories and still images kicking around in my brain, that these fragmentary musical ideas were brought to life — loop by loop, lick by lick, memory by memory.
Insofar as these things are genetic, I almost certainly inherited my love of music from my dad. A gifted pianist and singer, he was delighted when I picked up a bass at age 12, if less delighted by the gloomy Alice in Chains covers I set about learning for purposes of honing my craft. That gift has been one the biggest blessings of my life. That said, these songs were recorded at home using Audacity and a $100 USB mic, and I’m no engineer. They exist, warts and all, as a tribute to an important person in my life, and as a form of real-time grief processing. You can read about the memories that inspired them below.
WE BURIED A ROCK
This is an ode to a pebble that my dad and I buried on a high school football field adjacent to our backyard in the spring of 1986. "Someday we're going to go dig up that rock," he'd say, which of course we never did (fair -- who wants to be fined for illegally excavating a high school football field?). This song was improvised to the memory of my father and I sauntering up that hill, making an adventure out of nothing, the way fathers and sons do.
HERE COMES HARE-INGTON
This title refers to our family excursion to the Wisconsin Dells Greyhound Track in the summer of 1992, "Hare-Ington" being the name of the mechanical rabbit that raced around the track on an elevated rail, compelling a stable of otherwise ordinary greyhounds to athletic greatness. The title phrase was bellowed over the PA by the track announcer at the start of each race -- and subsequently by my brother and me in the car all the way back to the hotel.
CATFISH AND COCONUTS
A tribute to the father/son bonding nights that my dad took me and my brothers on in the mid-1990's, treating us to an out-to-eat dinner and then to some frivolous splurge on material goods. I always picked seafood (another love I inherited from him) and record shopping at Coconuts Music and Movies, a strip mall chain not dissimilar to Sam Goody's (great selection, insane prices). Many of the CD's that laid the groundwork for my love of music were bought on those outings.
RED PILLOW RED BLANKET
In the last months of his life, my father set about having personalized quilts and pillows made for each of my children (a lady at his residential facility made them). He was only able to get one set made, for my son Oliver, before he passed. Oliver is 2 and will likely not remember my dad, but this pillow and blanket (which he calls "red pillow, red blanket") have become beloved security items in a way I couldn't have predicted. I hope somehow my dad can see how much he loves them.
ASK FOR GEE
In the summer of 1993, my dad and a work buddy bought a decommissioned USPS vehicle and turned it into a sno-cone truck (DBA: Jay and Gee's -- Gee, pronounced like "gee whiz," was my dad, Gary). "Want Jay and Gee's to come to your neighborhood? Call [our number] - ask for Gee!" read the flier, plastered onto various telephone poles around town. All summer long, dinners were interrupted by kids and parents calling our landline and asking for Gee -- mispronouncing it "ghee" like the dairy-free butter substitute. The sno-cone truck did not see 1994.
LIBRARY BAG
This song is an ode to the canvas tote that my father gave to my daughter Cecelia to carry her library books in. She is the most voracious reader I know and has probably carried over 5000 books in that bag.
THE ONE DOLLAR QUESTION
This is an homage to the trivia-style "game show" that my dad would host for my children, in which he asked them impossibly easy questions and rewarded their correct answers with dollar bills.
SHE'S AN ARTIST, JUST LIKE YOU
My dad incorrectly assumed I might like many things -- the music of the Manhattan Transfer, sci-fi TV movies, sardines. But he correctly predicted the woman I eventually married, long before we even met. The YouTube description doesn't permit enough characters for me to do justice to the full story. So I'll just say, thanks dad. Best recommendation ever.
