Dan Baker: Press

Reviews for "Sad Song Junkie" 2010    

(Translated from Dutch)

With the great Outskirts Of Town drew Dan Baker are among those who name a good debut appreciate. This Sad Song Junkie(Trespass Music) is even better when I wrote the Declaration of the fourth position in my top 10 most beautiful plates from 2010. Sad Song Junkie, compared with the debut, where we already handed out five stars for, even more truly uplifted by the beautiful arrangements. Dan Baker writes just such strong lyrics and namesake and Sam Baker singer-songwriter from Boston who once worked with instrumental peak power from Nashville. The accordionist Jeff Taylor (Elvis Costello, Ricky Skaggs) in the beautiful title track and then immediately again in 365 Days by percussion (Jeff Boggs) and clarinet an Eastern European feel. A Little Something to do with Mandolin Joe Spivey (Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez) and steel guitar of Steve Hinson (George Jones, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis). The drums of Boggs behind the melody seem to bump would be so inspired by one of the packages already provided by such brilliant early records of Townes Van Zandt. Man is weak at first no more than man with guitar, dobro and fiddle until reinforcement for sure. Thus all numbers have really a different feeling. Even the penny whistle on First Day's Dream is all in place, as well as clarinet and horns on some other songs. Available at CD Baby .

(Translated from Dutch)

It threatens again going to be a chore to go to our "album of the year" option. In recent weeks there have been so was still a lot of strong candidates emerged.American Aquarium, Chris Brecht, Leeroy Stagger, Rachel Harrington and Robyn Ludwick, they are only a few, who like us for that matter spontaneously jump to mind. And "Sad Song Junkie" by Dan Baker is now yet another one ready. With this second album by him, the successor to his debut in 2008 published "Outskirts Of Town," Baker makes a huge leap forward. For the recording of it, he went to the renowned Blackbird Studios in Nashville. There he found in Jeff Taylor (accordion and penny whistle), Joe Spivey (fiddle and mandolin) and Steve Hinson (steel guitar and dobro) the right people to him what a "fuller" sound to help. Partly because he approaches the "Sad Song Junkie" frighteningly close one of his own childhood heroes. We are talking in particular about John Prine. This latter Baker not only a common voice especially warm, Prine as he warns a healthy dose of dry humor in his time. And it shows here at all handy. Baker's songs appear in general is rather on the gloomy side. Pretty dark lyrics seem to be the man's specialty.Verily a "Sad Song Junkie" So. But that makes his material is certainly not less intriguing. On the contrary! It is highly addictive! So much, in recent days that we barely have listened to anything else ...

Dan Bakers beautiful album Sad Song Junkie, has been voted album of the month for November 2010 by the Euro free form broadcasters, (some 50 or so of what I affectionately call "my fellow obsessives", who have the foot in the door of media-ocrity for the good stuff) this is a really good album, a particular favourite of Jo Cowan my friend and college at Nevis Radio who has the Americana show.

(Translated from Dutch)

Outskirts of Town called his previous record, and now he's back with a similar catchy title: Sad Song Junkie. Dan Baker serves not only the simplicity but also does so expressive and direct. His debut was pretty well received in our country, and this is new over there in my humble opinion. Critics may execution of his songs as close to designate itself I see it differently. Then limited to the essentials. Solely for the purpose of his work to compete with the correct proportion of expressiveness.The subtle instrumentation provides sufficient ornamental, distraction and sharpness. Dan Baker is not shy to share stories. He may lack the poetic power of someone like Cohen, but his lyrics he richly dressed me as a good listener to fetter themselves. Like Tom Waits knows a seemingly uninteresting subject and Corduroy (Pants) exciting.

The first instrument which impressed me severely hit by Jeff Taylor's accordion.Maybe it's my own imagination, but the use of the accordion marks not only the American South, but it also typically means that graced French chansons. Also play steel guitar, mandolin and upright bass the lead. The cover of the Dan Baker is decorated with a still life consisting of glass. This brown glass gives better protection from the harmful effects of daylight. Pharmacists stopped previously not without their medicines in brown glass bottles or jars. This Sad Song Junkie certainly knows what he sings. Shake the gin and vermouth correct ratio and you have Dan's favorite drink. His sad songs are the best medicine for the coming dark days (and nights) for Christmas. At the last moment there are just before the end of 2010 a very special pair of pictures in my mailbox, like this one from Dan Baker. Medical enjoyment for music junkies.

(Translated from Dutch)

"Sad Song Junkie", the second album of American singer-songwriter Dan Baker, is an apt title. Not because it sounds catchy, but because it is the core of the songs on this album is. As the songs on this new CD stands out is that in the remotest Bob Dylan-like scenes to be seen more as compared to his debut album. The rippling and dreamy melodies sound more like to albums by Sam Baker and Tom Waits.Then sings with a wonderfully melancholic and serious tone in his voice, which makes it very difficult to quickly let go of your thoughts. "Sad Song Junkie" you will not slide into the player for a good game to dance. It's music to create an atmosphere to close the evening. The lack of musical variation drag your songs are in almost forty minutes on the same slow pace.

Dan Baker knows how to "Sad Junkie Song" backed by some top notch musicians from Nashville. To name just a few: Jeff Taylor (accordion), Joe Spivey (fiddle and mandolin) and Steve Hinson (steel guitar). The guidance is simple, the common thread is the man himself - singing, talking thoughtfully with an unbearably sad voice that no therapy can control. "Sad Junkie Song" with its somber, but also humorous text is far from a melancholy labor. In Know What They Do not be afraid to tell him about his parents (Do not do this, Do not do that, Do not eat Twinkies. Or You Might Get Fat. Do not drink whiskey And do not smoke pot. What Do They Know? Not a damn thing. How I can grow, if I stay so damn clean). Then sings O Little Death thereafter on an orgasm.

Little O death, O Little Death
La Petite Mort so say the French
I got five U.S. dollars I'd be willing to bet
We're gona have us a little O Death

"Sad Song Junkie" by Dan Baker is the musical and textual contradictions a spontaneous album with many healthy and underlying tension.

(Translated from Dutch)

In the small town of Chelsea near Boston, Massachusetts singer-songwriter Dan Baker grew up. Two years ago he made his debut with the album pretty "Outskirts Of Town" that brought him in different venues, mostly as a solo artist with nothing more than his acoustic guitar and his weathered voice as useful instruments.
Himself as a young man he looked up at the truly great songwriters in music history with names like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, John Prine, Richard Thompson and Tom Waits as the most relevant references can continue.
On his recently released second album, "Sad Song Junkie" in the famous Blackbird Studios in Nashville was recorded eleven new compositions he brings a broad orchestrated environment. It was in addition to the conventional instruments drums, bass and guitar also provide space for accordion with Jeff Taylor (Vince Gill and Elvis Costello), violin and mandolin with Joe Spivey (Hank Williams Jr., Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard) and pedal steel guitar and dobro Steve Hinson (including with Dolly Parton, George Jones and Randy Travis). These three top musicians from Nashville deliver a highly appreciated contribution to several songs on this CD.
The whole sounds like a beautiful flower arrangement: colorful, fresh and youthful, radiating splendor. The warm voice of Dan Baker in the first issue requires - title track "Sad Song Junkie" - immediately your attention. The often bitter sweet and sometimes dark lyrics are mitigated by a dry, cynical humor that what Dan Baker in his late songs creep.
The strongest songs on this album are country ballad "A Little Something", the somber "Martini" that the pain and sorrow of the moment is left drunk, a topic that is sung in the song "Weak Man". The only happy sounding song "Sad Song Junkie" is "O Little Death" as a bluegrass country song is presented. And "Corduroy" over a corduroy trousers would go under 'light' can be placed.
But then it's one and all "sadness" in the song "First Day's Dream", "What Do They Know?" And the closing "Breakdown". Dan Baker writes songs like a book with profound stories about the dark, gloomy side of life and brings a subtle but very nicely orchestrated music. Bob Dylan and John Prine will this talented musician more than a suitable successor to recognize their characteristic sound.

(Translated from Dutch)

To what extent should you be aware of your songwriting profession as somberman and that makes you sad songs? Dan Baker's CD is called loudly Sad Song Junkie.With this, the chance of a lighter note, of course, quite quickly. He would almost be compelled to sing like a tired pastor on his last day. The instruments can do nothing but cry silently as wolves in a dark forest.
A bit like Ben Weaver on his latest record is, the singer-songwriter at a modest man.Not that he is a person of few words. His lyrics are often long pieces of text he half singing and half talking to the people. Catch my breath is often not. As background for his life stories he chooses stripped and slow country blues.
He might as well be a writer of books in the nonfiction category. If you have a neat kaftje around it does, you have a very nice collection of short stories. The numbers of Sad Song Junkie also have a net jacket. For someone who sings so much misery, Baker keeps himself very quiet. Sad Song Junkie missing for that matter the sharpness and tension of his previous album Outskirts of Town.

Reviews for "Outskirts of Town" 2008

Dan Baker is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who’s made his bones in Boston, but one listen to his debut album, Outskirts of Town, reveals that this guy is far more familiar with the dynamics of small-town America. He can dial up both the romance and the disappointment inherent in your average burg and he understands how those two extremes can be intertwined in poignant ways. That authenticity of place is what makes this debut so promising.

The immediate thing you tend to do with a new songwriter is try and play “spot the influence.” Whenever someone is as wordy as Baker, Bob Dylan flashes to mind. The streetlife fascination would point the way to 70’s-era Bruce Springsteen. But while there are echoes of both of those titans, I would suggest that Baker reminds me of the woefully underrated but highly influential John Prine.

…what he has proven is his ability to take in all the minutiae of his surroundings and spin them back to us without artifice or condescension

Like Prine, Baker fearlessly gets inside the skin of his characters, even if it means portraying himself in a less than flattering light. The anti-hero of “Bad Man” fully understands the error of his ways but still goes ahead with his womanizing and rabble-rousing. Baker also takes a cue from Prine on how to dissect the horrors of war from the inside-out; “Untraveled Road” looks at the strain that war puts on families in much the same way Prine’s seminal “Sam Stone” did almost 40 years ago.

And, like Prine, Baker’s writing never skimps on humor, which is a refreshing change from some of the dour navel-gazers out there. “God Might Be Crazy” and “Dreams” both have their tongue firmly in their cheek but never cross the line into snark. The best of the funny ones is “Live Like A Dog,” a hilariously insightful look at how our four-legged friends get away with wretched behavior and still have it made.

Baker does have some weaknesses common to first-time songwriters. He tends to overdo it with the lyrics, pouring on line after line when brevity might have served his purpose better. The title track is guilty of this; a trenchant line about small-town ennui like “Where the women have babies and then they go nuts” gets lost in the long, wordy denouement.

Meanwhile the arrangements of the songs are kept minimal: Acoustic guitar, some piano, a few flourishes here and there. It’s all tasteful, and there wouldn’t be anything wrong with this if Baker had an expressive voice like Dylan or Prine, who sounded like grizzled veterans even as a youngsters. Instead, the newcomer tends to sound whiny when he tries to emote.



Some better melodies and some instrumental variety could remedy that; both are present on the string-laden “Surrounded”, as Baker describes a love as suffocating in the best possible way. His knack for off-kilter approaches to songs like this one definitely helps to mitigate the shortcomings and keep the songs sounding fresh.

At album’s end in the song “Spinning Round,” Baker finds himself in the local sinkhole/bar feeling both stifled and blessed by his lot in life. It remains to be seen if this new songwriter can expand his worldview past the parameters of his local hamlet. But what he has proven is his ability to take in all the minutiae of his surroundings and spin them back to us without artifice or condescension, ennobling his humble characters in the process. And that’s a talent worth watching.

Dan Baker - outskirts of Town

Dan Baker is a tiny bit reminiscent of the young Dylan, by his way of singing, but he soon appears to have its own sound. He builds his songs around subtle but very effective, subtle arrangements that his CD after each turn, turn better, because you increasingly hear the subtle details. But that's just about, that are the songs, which are simply wonderful and often poignant. Pretty nice.

If you're listening to a typical album of Bob Dylan "Together trough Life" turn to an independent release that you just feel that enthusiasm which said master fails to do so. Do it in Fort Worth, Texas born but raised in Boston Massachusetts singer-songwriter Dan Baker.

Baker is so me and someone who in every alley of a city can face. Armed with a pocket-it's post, he describes what he observes. The self-adhesive yellow valances arrive on the door of his American refrigerator. Every day he pulls open which sometimes falls on the ground. As puzzle pieces fall together as the ten were also very nice life contemplative songs now on his debut CD "outskirts of town" is.

The simple instrumentation of acoustic guitars, bass, brush drums, keyboard and violin surround the warm country folk songs, without really excel. Normally, for our daily purposes, meaningless events and characters pass in review. Homeless zatlappen, file annoyances or Goddienstig the grain in 'God Might Be Crazy, "too many to mention, you will find it all on this album. Baker wakes up from a dream but want to dream Dreams are going to make you die ". Eager though he is not, everything you can from him as you but its "Flamingo & Palm Tree 'afblijft. It sounds as logical as what and is even very easy to follow. As you have the missing text book required.

Dan Baker says the network as a 'Poet Fatherland ". Poetry of the street sometimes with a wink but clearly with some finger changes. Good honest debut. (Jan Janssen)

( translated from Dutch )

Just when the new album of Bob Dylan Only the Diehard fans' excellent 'is mentioned, seems to us the debut of a young man blowing from the ungodly Brockton, Massachusetts. Dan Baker finds himself, in the best tradition of Dylan, a writer rather than a singer, but this is already a point where he can and must speak. Indeed, the ten songs on this debut album shine, give true expression of an International WebSites@INTL.WS and flawless observations, but it sounds then even very convincing when he sings his lyrics. That has a lot to do with the way the plate and produced is very simple, nothing liflafjes or no overdubs, just in the studio, playing and recording. The perfect mix of country and folk, gelardeerd with a firm dose of disarming itself in perspective. It seems like Dan Baker purpose for everything, I think he even has an open position phonebook could write a song. How to bar in a cafe where you never met a girl picking up for example (Bad Man), or how you think of the emptiness and narrowness of your own life and would like it wants to exchange with the best dog, so you at least folks in the garden may be, whether you head through a car window may stabbing (Live Like A Dog). Absolutely huge price for my ears is the irony dripping song Flamingo & Palm Tree, in which Baker sings that he does not care what he afpakt nor his ten-speed racing, his car, or eating his plate, as long as you but afblijft of flamingos and palm tree baby blue, Christmas coffee mug. Phenomenal song from a truly impressive debut. Let now quiet old Dylan and radio: the successor is ready! (DH)

Dan Baker emerges as a talented singer/songwriter
Posted on 08 Jun 2009
By IAN ABREU

A singer/songwriter appears to be emerging from New England music scene.

After releasing his debut CD entitled Outskirts of Town back in 2008, Dan Baker has been receiving high praise as one of the best young song writer’s throughout not only the United States, but throughout Europe as well.

“I released Outskirts of Town in September and so far, the response has been really great. I'm also working with a distributer over in Sweden because the record is doing pretty well over there as well,” said Baker. “I've had some good reviews and some radio play. So, if that keeps up, I hope to head out there next year for a tour to help promote the record. Needless to say, I’ve been doing such promo stuff over in Europe.”

Outskirts of Town features 10 songs of original material and, according to Baker, wouldn’t have even happened if it weren’t for a local generous recording studio owner.

“The CD was recorded in Hyde Park at a place called Makeshift Studios,” explained the native of Somerville, Mass. “Darron Burke, the guy who runs the place, was both affordable and great to work with. He really gave me a great sound.”

Even though Baker is a solo act when he performs live, he did enlist the aid of a couple of local musicians to help him record his last album. Baker wanted to acknowledge their hard work.

“The bass player on the record is Andy Kissock. We met in college and have been hanging out and playing together ever since,” he said. “The drummer, Matt Malinn, knew Andy's downstairs neighbors. He would hear us jamming down in the basement, so he started hanging out and playing too. Those two guys really shaped the sound of the record.”

Describing his particular style of music as anywhere from folk, to Americana, to alt-country, Baker credits a long list of artistic influences as his inspiration.

“John Prine is definitely one of my favorites. The first record I ever bought of his was ‘Diamonds In the Rough’, and it's one of the finest records I've ever heard,” he said. “Richard Thompson is also another big one. His song ‘God Loves a Drunk’ might just be the best song ever written. Leonard Cohen also was a huge influence. ‘Songs from a Room’ is my favorite from him. Of course Bob Dylan, how can you not be influenced by the master?”

One point Baker wants to stress to all of his fans is that when you go see him play live, feel free to stop on over and say “hello.”

“Well, first off, my songs will rock the very foundation of your soul,” he said. “Second, I'm a pretty friendly guy, and if you buy a CD I will autograph it for free. Then after my set, we can sit at the bar and drink beer until closing, and right before last call, we'll do a couple of rounds of Jagermeister and refuse to leave the venue. Either way it would be a great night, and one we would never forget.”

( Translated from Italian )

It would be too easy, and at the same time unnecessary, draw on the title for sciorinare the usual avalanche of comparisons and the like, in fact, almost inevitable: life in the suburbs that recalls Springsteen in the blue overalls of the seventies, a yearning folk looking straight into the eyes of a such that the bazzichi Greenwich Village in search of answers in the wind ... There is but one though, or anything you like: Dan Baker is not just another new Dylan that is in addition to a now-ended list of disciples of the master. Of course, this is a classic songwriter who often gravitate around the folk tradition, but between the lines will intercept a particular style that moves the center of gravity influences a little 'further west, where in Chicago that a guy named John Prine moved the beginnings of an artistic rather than illuminated by the lights of the stage for cotanto colleague. This is a debut, and this is something that should not be underestimated because we are dealing with an artist, above average, which mixes the charm of the Texas native (born in Fort Worth) with the portraits of small town life where has increased, that of Massachusetts.

Prine to have that ability to songwriting that cuts the irony with the teeth, the lyrics are blunt and sharp, disposed of by a hangover of aniteroismo daily. Todd Snider Is there a filter to do, in fact some of the voice inflections trail recall his post-explosion, the Oh Boy, it is no accident that the label put it away in forging a sense the future and artistic legacy . On this axis move the ten songs that album, built on a sound system and semiacoustic thin, textured organ, piano and sometimes fiddle to incinerate the banality of life, the one who smiles when accepting the compromise with temptation, again But careful all'altrui existence. The only note, if you really want to try the hair nell'uovo covers some static tracks, which run on the same chord of inspiration without losing balance, indeed.

Thus the sounding social dips in solitude on the outskirts (the title track coated folk) and gives its best in Bad Man, pearl autobiographical-step error dall'inevitabile paced charm of sin, one sip from the plane of God Might Be Crazy, who joked with caution on a question that makes people smile since the first verse (He invented the pleasures of skin, but then he called those pleasures left). The body of Dreams intercept the core of a talented, Flamingo & Palm Tree and Surrounded - it washed by a lovely violin - play a hard game with the problems of heart, Untraveled Road is the discounting of Sam Stone at a distance of forty years to paint the canvas of the horrors of the sad realities of war, as if to say that from Vietnam to Iraq the experience did not lead counsel. There is room for the country of Live Like A Dog, while the beautiful and conclusive Spinning 'Round expresses clearly a innate predisposition, able to exit the provincial dimension to knock on the doors of paradise, in the sense that music does not seem to respond more the call.

(This is translated from Dutch... but you get the idea.)


Put this next album but the CD's Sam Baker. This Dan Baker, on the cover looking rather shy, do not really feel small in the company of his namesake. Because outskirts of town (house) is a great debut. Dan Baker lives in Boston, Massachusetts, but is originally from Fort Worth, Texas. As Sam writes Dan, has no family, beautiful narrative songs. And even though not escape the comparison with Bob Dylan, Dan Baker this is indeed an original artist. Especially the first two numbers of the CD, the title track and Traffic Jams, have something of Dylan. It is those stories which the words continue, driven by organ game. Traffic Jam and also of those long stretched words at the end of some sentences. Completely Before The Flood. That voice is also Baker damn much reminiscent of Jonathan Richman. Especially on Bad Man, a good sing song with talking again magnificent organ playing is the case. In this regard detailed zeurde singing style - I love that - he repented as an unbeatable woman conqueror. The magnificent Flamingo & Palm Tree is once again a story about the breakdown of a relationship and the problems it causes. You can take my car I can walk / My phone do not need to talk / My hat, my coat, my boots and my winter gloves / You can take anything that you might like / My old skateboard at my speed bike / You can even have my sixteenth century oriental back / But do not you take my / Flamingo and palm tree baby blue Christmas coffee mug. Humor has also Dan Baker. In this respect he has something of Jonathan Richman. And perhaps John Prineville. And as Sam Stone Prineville with a great anti-war song written during the Vietnam War, as Baker has also one. In Untraveled Road tells the sad story of a soldier killed in Iraq. Available at CD Baby.

If you liked Bob Dylan, you're really going to dig this kid! He's as comfortable sounding as your favorite old pair of sneakers.

(This is translated from Dutch so it might sound kind of funny)

You know: in the pub gets busy with a strange game that tells his life story. This time he himself as Dan Baker and he is living in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Where he comes from, a hard blowing wind and streets strewn with drunkards. Dan Baker fast friends, because he now has a dog and as Bob Dylan sounds.
The young singer-songwriter observe from the sidelines. Baker actually appears on his inspiration to pick up. Even if he car along the side of the road, packed his note pad and pedaling a few cross words, sooner or later to make a song out of it. Thus the ten songs on the excellent debut outskirts of town more or less naturally arisen.
Halfway through the CD says the frank Baker almost everything would stand. You can be car, skateboard and baseball pictures are, if you are flamingos and palm trees but still. If song is' FLAMINGO & Palm Tree 'typical Baker. The allemansvriend impresses with its delicious murmur and stories about daily life.

Dan Baker is a little like Bob Dylan put to a slow country beat, with just a touch of Steve Earle thrown into the pot. Most of Outskirts of Town is slow, sad, and often a little depressing. But Baker sings with sincerity, and is even convincing when his voice takes on a Bob Dylan whine, as during "Traffic Jam."

This disc’s best song is one called "Bad Man." On it, Baker – bad man in the story – sings of seducing a "good girl." Over a waltz rhythm, Baker describes himself as a slithery beast. "I curled around her like a snake," he admits, "that was ready to constrict." He knows he’s taking advantage of an innocent flower, but he just can’t help himself. Although he sees himself as pure evil during this sexual conquest, he still has trouble with the whole "sex is bad" thing. On "God Might Be Crazy," for instance, he wonders if God’s restrictions on sex might be a sign of deified insanity. "He invented the pleasures of skin, but then he called those pleasures a sin."

This CD is not by any means all about sex. Outskirts of Town, for instance, reminds one of Steve Earle’s "Someday." Baker complains about the doldrums of small town life. Baker also has a good sense of humor, which comes through during "Live like a Dog," where he imagines trading his hard life for a dog’s much easier life. This acoustic guitar-driven song is nicely colored by fiddle. It also has a nice country-fied electric guitar solo. Ironically, it includes a line about "chasing bitches" that isn’t at all demeaning to women. I challange any gangsta rapper to pull that off.

These song arrangements are extremely sparse for the most part, but "Spinning ‘Round" has sharp drums, electric guitar fills, and rhythmic piano. The song is also a good bookend to the title track. The latter tune speaks of the claustrophobic nature of a small town, while "Spinning ‘Round" narrows the environment down to a local bar, and then even smaller to the painful world inside Baker’s own head. "This bottle is the only friend that I got now," he admits, tragically.

It’s likely country music haters will recoil at the lyrical direction of Outskirts of Town because Dan Baker makes stereotypically sad country music. But you really need to give this music a fighting chance. Baker is a smart and insightful singer, who thinks deeply and writes intelligently about the curious thoughts spinning ‘round his head. It's great stuff, no matter what you want to call it.

Best record I've ever heard!!