DANNY LISTON - EVERYBODY

DANNY LISTON - EVERYBODY CONTEMPORARY BLUES LABEL: BLUE HOUSE RECORDS RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2023 Everybody: The new CD release by Danny Liston, Arguably Danny’s best work to date. Produced and mixed by Jim Gaines at Bessie Blue Studios, released on Blue House Records.

 St. Louis singer/songwriter and guitarist Danny Liston, once a member of Mama's Pride, who worked the Southern rock circuit along with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Wet Willie, eventually signing with Atlantic Records and releasing several albums, now sings of his faith and restoring hope. The music business is filled with the stories of bands, who so nearly made it. There are also tales of self-destruction with mainstream artists heading for an early grave fueled by drugs and booze. Liston draws upon those stories and his own personal experience to craft songs of healing and forgiveness as a mission to lift people up in these troubled times. 

 His new album, Everybody, is a ten-track collection of original material in the style that got him  “Almost Famous” that aims at more depth than the purely good times’ music of the 70’s and 80’s. Liston is joined by the rhythm section of Davy Smith on bass and drummer Steve Potts and Will McFarlane on guitar. Mark Narmore and Rick Steff handle the main keyboards with Cory Edwards, Bob Lohr and Michael O’Hara adding extra touches. The horn section of Alan

Branstetter on trumpet, Brad Guin and Buddy Leach (George Thorogood) on saxophones give the tracks extra power along with special guest vocalist Bekka Bramlett. The recording is produced by his long-time collaborator and friend, Jim Gaines, to deliver an album that feels like a genuine family affair.     

The album opens with the title track “Everybody,” a bit of sweet 70’s soul with an uplifting message of hope and deliverance. “Didn’t Find My Blues,” rolls out as a swampy Muscle Shoals infused tome of one man’s journey to discover the secret source of music’s magic power. Liston offers sage advice on the ballad “Real Man,” the brilliant vocal performance is  a lesson of humility and agape love, backed by a Gospel flavored arrangement. “Old Friends” takes is on a sweet sentimental trip to the sounds of the Jersey shore, and memories of good times. “Love Everyday” has smooth R&B groove with the simple message of how-to-live in peace and harmony if you make it you mission to open you heart to the world. The hymn of Honky Tonk salvation “Goodbye Jack Daniels,” finds Liston confessing his sins on the altar of rock ‘n’ roll.  

 The lilting soul ballad “Right As Rain,” has him comparing his love to the archetypes of the southern landscape he adores capped with a soaring guitar solo. The complex rocking narrative “Scandal” works a tangled web of lies in a torrid love triangle. Liston sing the praises of his first love (the electric guitar) on the joyous “Made To Rock N Roll,” then makes his profession of faith during the slow burning album closer “A Change Has Come.” Danny Liston is a survivor of wounds both insidious and self-inflicted, who might have ended up as one of rock's many casualties, if it had not been for faith and family to become a musical force for good.  Rick J Bowen

• 1. Everybody(Radio Single)
  2. Didn't Find My Blues
  3. Real Man
  4. Old Friends
  5. Love Everyday
  6. Goodbye Jack Daniels
  7. Right As Rain
  8. Scandal
  9 .Made To Rock & Roll
  10. A Change Has Come

WEBLINKS

OS: www.dannyliston.com

FB: www.facebook.com/people/Danny-Liston-Music/100063486379315

Betsie Brown, Blind Raccoon, betsie@blindraccoon.com