Five Records with… Danny Balis
Posted on | October 9, 2009 | No Comments
I had the chance to talk to Danny Balis the other day. Balis fronts the King Bucks and recently released his first solo record Too Much Living, and is probably better known as the producer of the award-winning Hardline on KTCK in Dallas, Texas. Five Records is an occasional feature of artists talking about the music that inspires them. Read more of these posts here.
“Merle Haggard’s live records, “Fighting Side Of Me” and “Okie From Muskogee” made me want to pursue a career in music. They were both very rushed and unedited live albums from the early 70’s. I never remember not listening to these albums…a real country show: short, the hits, some covers, guest appearances, instrumentals, good stories between songs. It’s what i aspire to do with my sets now.”
“I always admired Bill Withers – he was very understated, and came off as a real stand up guy. His “Live at Carnegie Hall” record shows a minimalist soul man in the 70’s when R&B was alot of glitz. I love the way the recurring theme in his instrumentation was the acoustic guitar, but this is not country, it is pure soul. It just oozes out of your headphones.”
“While I was making Too Much Living, I listened to a lot of Townes Van Zandt, particularly “Live at the Old Quarter”. Those songs had a familiar feeling that I was going through at the time, and the poetic lyrics were a real inspiration to dig deep and not go with cliches. There is a fine line between creating beautiful poetry and making ham-fisted metaphors. Townes knew that difference.”
“I wish I had written “Return of the Grevious Angel”, in my opinion, the greatest country song ever written. Reeks of heartache, the road, and self abuse. Plus, Emmylou…what else can be said?”
“Phosphorescent’s “To Willie” is something I have listened to a lot lately. This is an indie kid that did a tribute to Willie, but he absolutely owns it. He took the difficult task of covering classic songs that don’t necessarily need to be touched and made them his own. When I hear it I really believe they could be his own tunes. His version of “The Last Thing I Needed the First Thing This Morning” still makes me weep and I actually like it better than Willie’s.”
Danny Balis – If You’re Trying To Kill Me
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