Press Play: Danny Click’s warm-hearted ‘Holding Up the Sun’
Press Play: Danny Click’s warm-hearted ‘Holding Up the Sun’
By Paul Liberatore • Marin Independent Journal
POSTED: 09/10/15, 4:18 PM PDT
If you’ve had your heart broken (and who hasn’t), and have at times become a little cynical in the romance department, the remedy just may be Marin singer-songwriter Danny Click’s new album, “Holding Up the Sun,” a collection of finely crafted love songs that are like affirmations of faithfulness and hope.
One of Marin’s most popular and hard-working performers, Click went to Los Angeles to record “Holding Up the Sun” with producer Jim Scott, a multiple Grammy winner best known for his work with Wilco, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Dixie Chicks.
The title track, a duet with Jessie Bridges, daughter of actor Jeff Bridges, is a lovely piece of modern Americana that sets the positive tone of the album. Click and Bridges trade verses about feeling each other’s pain, letting cares fade away and being there when life drags you down.
“What I Do,” a mid-tempo ballad that builds on a sweet acoustic guitar intro, offers up another you-can-depend-on-me sentiment with the clever hook, “It’s not so much what I say, it’s what I do.” It’s the kind of song that would be perfect for one of the lovelorn characters on the country music TV series “Nashville” to sing in a tender moment.
Click would be wise to avoid sounding derivative, though, too much like his musical influences, as he develops his own style. The opening song, “Broken,” for instance, borrows obviously from Springsteen with its thundering electric guitar opening and the Bruce-like “Hey!” that kicks off the vocal.
On “Eva Jane,” a tune about pining for a woman who lives on the outskirts of town, Click’s dry Texas tenor could be mistaken for the Lone Star State’s Lyle Lovett. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you don’t want people listening to the song and wondering the whole time who it sounds like.
For the two weeks of recording sessions at Scott’s Plyrz Studios in L.A., Click assembled a band that any up-and-comer would envy, including the rock-solid rhythm section of bassist Don Bassey and drummer Kevin Hayes, Mike Emerson on piano and organ, pedal steel player Jon Mitguard and Greg Leisz on lap and pedal steel. Lynn Asher adds harmony vocals.
This is Click’s first full-length studio album since 2011’s “Life Is a Good Place.” “This is the one,” he says on the back cover, letting us know that he’s pinning his hopes on “Holding Up the Sun” being his breakthrough record, busting him out of Marin and onto the national stage.
It’s inspired enough that it may very well do that.
“Holding Up the Sun,” Danny Click, Dogstar Records, available Sept. 18.
CD Release Party: All acoustic, 8 p.m. Saturday, 142 Throckmorton Theatre, Mill Valley, $20 to $30.
Comments are closed.
