Customer Reviews

Instead the Forest Rose to Sing

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Danny delivers again! The new record is one of my favorites (2nd only to Parables and Primes), and I recommend this album as a great place to start if you're unfamiliar with his music. As is common with his records, he provides a mix of insight, entertainment, and mystery into each track. I'll say that if you haven't had an opportunity to catch his live shows, you're in for a treat. The energy and presence he brings to the stage are incredible, and I've left each show with a new appreciation for his music.

Instead the Forest Rose to Sing is outstanding - the mix of back-up instruments and vocal harmonies add a depth that really brings these songs to life as studio recordings. You'll find yourself humming a phrase from Southland Street or Better Off Broke, or wondering just what on earth the Bank Robber was thinking! Man, the imagery that these songs bring to mind are so vivid, so unique. I have loved listening to Danny's tunes, and this album especially. It's well worth every cent you'll spend!

I just got Danny's new release and I can't stop listening to it. Many familiar sounds if you know his music, but this guy is obviously out to perfect his art. Outstanding guitar playing, incredible lyrics and great vocal range. If you like folk music you will like Danny Schmidt.

Better off Broke and Swing Me Down start the album off with high energy. Full tempo songs dominated by fiddles, harmonicas, and subtle background vocals instantly bring you down home to the southern USA. Swing Me Down is one of the songs you think could be an American Classic. Grampa Built Bridges keeps the high quality that the album begins with, but slows things down a bit. It's a sweet ballad about how our world has lost touch with nature and true hard work. Southland Street, with Danny's strong narrative storytelling that he showcased in Parables in Primes converging with politics and economy, is destined to be the big crowd pleaser from this album. There's something about Danny's stories that is just completely captiviating. Two Timing Bank Robber's Lament and Firestorm are, in my humble opinion, the least strong songs on the album. And that's not saying much because I still love them. Aside from being wildly relevant, Serpentine Cycle of Money has Carrie Elkin on backup vocals, a true winner by these two rights alone. Oh Bally Ho and Accidentally Daisies are the two shortest songs on the album; they are sweet and sentimental, and wind the album down to it's finish: The Night's Beginning to Shine. Interesting to end the album with an end (night) and a beginning. It seems everything has come full circle. It's a beautiful song that leaves you fairly hopeful and optimistic in spite of the heavy issues explored throughout the album.

Overall the album is a winner in my book, and I will probably have it on rotation for a very long time. For people who have never heard Danny before it's a great way to get a sense of his music, because it includes so many different kinds of music and tempos, and it includes both the narrative and the personal which was previously so torn between Parables & Primes and Little Grey Sheep. Even Enjoying the Fall lends its blues-grassy down home feel throughout many of the songs. I appreciate when an artist can explore so many different styles in one compilation instead of being stuck to one musical style.

Danny Schmidt is the kind of songwriter that colors the wind with words of experience, deep experience. He sees something with the eyes of his heart and reminisces in such a way that provides visions of beauty midst the chaos to the dullest of eyes. Poetic, humble and wise beyond his years...
Instead the Forest Rose to Sing is not only a keeper, it's a dream that gains more insight, more vivid detail every time I experience it. I do not have a favorite song from this CD, on all of his other masterpieces, I do. Perhaps it is the mother in me, that I cannot depict a favorite child here- each song's personality is fitting and just right, and more- always more with each listening.

If you like singer/songwriters, Danny Schmidt is for you. This collection of songs includes a diversity of topics and melodies. Danny knows how to arrange songs, keep the sound fresh and interesting and still get across the point of his intelligent lyrics.

Check him out for sure.

Danny delivers again! The new record is one of my favorites (2nd only to Parables and Primes), and I recommend this album as a great place to start if you're unfamiliar with his music. As is common with his records, he provides a mix of insight, entertainment, and mystery into each track. I'll say that if you haven't had an opportunity to catch his live shows, you're in for a treat. The energy and presence he brings to the stage are incredible, and I've left each show with a new appreciation for his music.

Instead the Forest Rose to Sing is outstanding - the mix of back-up instruments and vocal harmonies add a depth that really brings these songs to life as studio recordings. You'll find yourself humming a phrase from Southland Street or Better Off Broke, or wondering just what on earth the Bank Robber was thinking! Man, the imagery that these songs bring to mind are so vivid, so unique. I have loved listening to Danny's tunes, and this album especially. It's well worth every cent you'll spend!

All of the CDs released by Danny Schmidt have contained gems---masterpieces of the songwriter's art. This is his best CD yet, and I count not less than seven masterpieces here. That makes this an extraordinary achievement, with some of the best compositions ever produced by an American songwriter. Consider "Firestorm," which begins with the words, "I'm not like that anymore..." or the breathtakingly clever lyrics of "Bank Robber's Lament." Then there are the harmony vocals of Carrie Elkin. On "Serpentine Cycle of Money" Carrie's voice becomes, by the end of the song, an overwhelming force.
You should not just buy this record, you should share it with all your friends.
They will thank you for it.
David