Issue
#160
Jul./Aug.
’12
There’s a lot wrong
with popular music, more so now
than ever before, but it only reflects what you can find in every era
of music.
American pop should vary wildly in its definition as based on the era
being
spoken of. Each musical generation has given forth their definition of
“Popular” regardless of the genre. Unfortunately,
we now have reached a time where
today’s popular music has forgotten not only its parent,
Rock-n-Roll, but also
Rock-n-Roll’s parents.
What is needed is an Old Soul to resurrect American
Pop.
Daphne Lee Martin & Raise The Rent –
Dig & Be Dug.
This CD made me think about my parents and how they grew me up on early
Rock-n-Roll, from Buddy Holly, The Beatles, and Motown to The British
Invasion
and more. They also taught me a lot about the Rock-n-Roll they grew up
with,
that of their parents: Big Band/Swing, Country Roots, Dixieland, New
Orleans
and Chicago Jazz, Gospel/Soul, Tex/Mex, and more. While other names
that come
to mind, like Benny Goodman, Mitch Miller, Duke Ellington, and The
Dorsey
Brothers, tend to stand out more than their contemporaries in all the
genres
that make up the history of “American POPular”
music, I knew from Dig & Be
Dug’s 1st song, Rosalita (a very Tex-Mex,
south-of-the-boarder Herb
Albert/Stan Getz tequila soaked horn ditty) that Daphne Lee Martin was the iconic Rosemary
Clooney of this generation,
and that unless they have an Old Soul, the common listener would
overlook the
brilliance of this album.
I’ll also cite Dusty Springfield and Peggy Lee as
purveyors of influence on Daphne as Pull
My Daisy has us
feeling the down-home, southern-fried roots as it plucks on the
county-fair
grand bandstand on the green during the town’s Sunday picnic
gathering, where
naughty innocence and subliminal sexual nature is the hallmark of
country gals,
city flappers, and torch singers.
Old
Guitar takes us,
once again, south-of-the-boarder to a dusty cantina. It’s a
ballad of smoky
lust where the trumpet, mandolin, and even the voice each represent a
descriptive metaphor. The lust burns hot with the way the guitar player
presents himself to her and Daphne effortlessly
matches the commitment of her emotions to her vocals. Just as the
object of her
desire slid up next to her and had her falling, so does she slide up
next to us
and have us falling… Raise The Rent
agrees as they play totally in sync with Daphne’s
seduction.
When In
Lieu of Flowers
requires a shift back to a Dixieland, saloon show tune, they crank up
the Honky
Tonk a notch, knowing we’re going to order another round,
drop the piano player
a few coins, and settle down for a few more songs. This could be Lily
from
Dylan’s “Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack of
Hearts.” It’s roaring 20’s barroom
jazz and we do stick around for another song, Me
& My Boots,
but instead of the southern saloon, we’re now in a New
Orleans or Chicago or
New York speakeasy, the down and dirty, jazz-swing decadence and glitz
of The
Great Gatsby era. The Roaring 20’s did Rock.
Some
Fine Day nods at
“classic rock pop” ‘70s Chicago until the
violins cut in and give way to the
horns, then it’s all white picket fences in country suburbs,
where B movies
would dictate shouts of “hey guys,
let’s
put on a show!” It’s a show-topper that
allows the instruments to strut and
walk-it-down as Daphne’s
silky-smooth voice drips all over
them. Depot has Daphne re-emerging as the
Dixieland/Swing/Jazz/Rag band
femme fatale. You know she’s cradling one of those round
radio-station
microphones as she pours the slinky goodness of her voice over the
tragic
ballad. Saratoga Rain features the mandolin and the
lap steel vying for
our emotions with gorgeous playing and poignant singing. This
awesomeness resonates
into another down-home, Broadway-musical masterpiece, Let’s
Stay In Bed All Day,
that gets everyone smiling and horny
as the interplay of
trumpet, fiddle, and keys bounce along happily encouraging everyone to
sing
along “let’s stay in bed /
all day.”
As quickly as Daphne Lee Martin & Raise The Rent closes the curtain on that
show-stopper, they thrust
us into a ‘40s Film Noir, grainy Black & White scene
with Nostradamus. Underscored with a
“Fever” background, Daphne describes her “Magic
Man” / “my nostradamus,” then
gives way to guest Gabriel Chandler who bursts in and throws down
a rag/rap that
bandleaders like Cab Calloway were capable of long before the Hip Hop
culture
discovered them. Once again, Dig & Be Dug
is “POPular” in terms of not only its parent,
Rock-n-Roll, but also
Rock-n-Roll’s parents.
Daphne Lee Martin is an Old Soul, who graces us
with the purity of American
Pop.
There’s a lot wrong with popular music, more so now
than ever before, but it only reflects what you can find in every era
of music.
American pop should vary wildly in its definition as based on the era
being
spoken of. Each musical generation has given forth their definition of
“Popular”
regardless of the genre. Fortunately, we now have Daphne Lee Martin & Raise The Rent, who have not forgotten their
parent, Rock-n-Roll, nor
Rock-n-Roll’s parents.
Dig & Be Dug.
Daphne Lee Martin & Raise The Rent
Old Soul American Pop.
Dig
& Be Dug by Daphne Lee
Martin & Raise The Rent
is now available for: $9.98 + s/h*
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