In what world did this come out in 2011? That’s what
you’ll ask yourself when you first hear Delaney Davidson’s Bad Luck Man.
It’s an honest question because this music at first sounds … old. Then after
you settle into the groove of this one-man band, you understand it isn’t really
old, it’s timeless.
Davidson is from New Zealand, but you wouldn’t know
it listening to these fourteen tunes of hard luck, depression, and
relationships gone belly-up. He sounds fully American, like he was born and
bred in the land of the blues, parishes, and voodoo. You can picture him
wandering the swamps, playing dive bars, and keeping it honest. It’s no wonder
he used to be part of The
Dead Brothers.
Voodoo
Rhythm Records put this out. It was the label’s second
release of his. It was a good choice. Years from now when civilization is
fighting over scraps of irradiated food and looking for shelter from the
perpetual inferno/polar vortex cycle the planet has been plunged into, this
music will still touch souls. Whether it’s the title track, “I’ve Got the Devil
Inside” or “Windy City,” this music will be understood by people everywhere at
any time. They will recognize and respect its purity just as easily as they
know its shame.
As I write the first draft of this, Naked Massacre is playing on my
television. It’s a sleazy little movie, inspired by a real crime. It’s a
subject Davidson could sing about and make it relatable if he so desired. He
has this ability to turn even the most transgressive of men into a tortured
being you yearn to understand. He’s not a bad luck man, or even a bad man. He’s
just a man with the ability to perform songs that move souls.
And that will never get old.
