ROY DAVIS & THE DREGS

"Roy Davis and the Dregs’ upcoming release “Dead Weight” echoes influences from several artists including The Band on the opening track “Please Go Home” and Neil Young on “Come Around”. In between Roy recalls Whiskeytown’s glory days on “Dead Weight”, “Get What’s Coming” could be a lost track from Ryan Adam’s solo disc “Demolition” and “Further and Further” could be a cover from Jonathan Richman’s “Jonathan Goes Country” (and yes I do mean that as a compliment). Don't take my word for it, you can take a listen to these tracks and more here.

Twangster fans of the usual suspects (Wilco, Jayhawks, Ryan Adams, Jayhawks,etc.) will dig this disc of Alt-Country/Americana from one of the scenes more promising young songwriters." Hickory Wind (www.hickorywind.org)

It was a struggle at first to see what Deadweight might add to a world more than well populated with Ryan Adams records; with a similar croak to his voice, and following a pretty standard guitar band template, it seemed like Roy Davis and his dregs were just a bit too late to the party.

But given a couple of listens, there were are few tracks that really had an appeal: ‘Lie like the snow falls’, ‘Just one Day’ and ‘Deadweight’ were especially sharp, whilst ‘please go home’ plays tricks with how many words fit in each line. There’s a few too many fillers: ‘believe you me’ and ‘don’t follow me ’ are predictable and don’t seem quite worth the place. But all in all, this might be something to try.

It’s a cracker! 100% Guaranteed. "Roy Davis wrings emotion from his voice as if he learned the "how-to" from Neil Young. For Davis, hitting the notes are less important than the feeling. Jon Nolan’s production places Davis’ ragged voice to ride atop the country-rock laments most closely resembling the sound of Wilco’s A.M. Davis’ outstanding debut Grey Town showcased an artist with tumult. Fortunately, for the listeners it sounds like he hasn’t personally worked much out yet.

"Roy Davis and the Dregs record Deadweight is not on any of the release lists that bloggers comb for new music to write about. And that’s a shame since this new record highlights one of the best new voices on the roots rock scene. The title song puts much of the emphasis on Davis’ deep, rich, but wavering, vocals. They’re packed with emotion and the moribound lyrical content lend them even more severity. This sophomore effort is a keeper; add it to your collection by clicking here."

"Davis has found his range as a singer, cultivating his alt-country accent and knowing his limits, and broadened his sound, getting both more raucous and more stripped-down at various times.

...has made an album any alt-country fan can settle into, but doesn’t sound like a knock-off.

...Davis’ lyrics have this odd nonsensical cant to them, but when you tease them out, like the Mulder and Scully reference that comes later in this tune, they usually make sense in an X-Files sort of way. ...feels like you’re being dragged against your will into the future."

Happiness is listening to "Deadweight," the new record from Roy Davis and The Dregs. Produced by Jon Nolan, "Deadweight" consists of a dozen songs that reside in the place where alt-country rubs elbows with rock 'n' roll along with plenty of heart.

At just over two minutes, "Hardly Holdin' On" is a buoyant rant about a dude who's hanging by a thread and ready to hit the road. "Till the Night is Gone" boasts a swingin' tempo that makes you wanna pull on some cowboy boots and sing right along.

There are also a number of slower tunes that are Roy's earnest expressions of desire, despair and the hidden emotions that lie within. "Lie like the Snow" is my current favorite:

"Each time she inhales, a frail figurine, he's lost beyond repair/ But love turns to lust turns to love turns to dust turns to all he can bear/ Don't cry when your glass is full, just lie like the snow falls/ Hell is a little thing, love will dance again."

Roy Davis and The Dregs CD release show. 9 p.m. Saturday. The Asylum, 121 Center St., Portland. Ages 21 and older. $5 cover 772-0772; www.myspace.com/portlandasylum

Did alt country first come above ground with the Counting Crows? Them’s fightin’ words to fake cowboys, but Davis and his Dregs make a good case for just that on their second album. The Maine trio does a fine job of rehashing Ryan Adams and Wilco circa “A.M.” But Adam Durwitz is also all over this one - and that’s not a knock. To be fair, the Crows never swamp-stomped like “Hardly Holding On,” but if this was 1994 you’d be breaking up with your prom date to excellent ballad “Lie Like the Snow Falls” and loving it. Download: “Lie Like the Snow Falls.” (Appearing with Girls, Guns & Glory tonight at the Middle East, Cambridge.)

It’s a fine line between influence and imitation, and Roy Davis treads it lightly on his second release with The Dregs, “Deadweight.” From one track to the next, Davis wraps his original lyrics around sounds reminiscent of Wilco, Whiskeytown, Neil Young and a few others you can’t quite put your finger on (Counting Crows?). Each song, be it a quiet folk song, twangy rock and roll or honky tonk, has a shadow of familiarity. After a few times through, however, it becomes clear there is something original and unpredictable about the Portland, Maine singer-songwriter. On “Lie like the snow falls,” he sings, “Don’t cry when your glass is full/ just lie like a snowfall/ hell is the little things/ love will dance again.” At 22, this is a songwriter who displays a maturity beyond his years. And a talent that holds the promise of great things to come.

Portland, Maine must be stuck in a time warp. Some kid named Roy Davis just scratched together a band and released a killer, mid-1990s alt.country album. In 2008.

With emotional cowboy lyrics, a light dose of twang, and a smattering of rock 'n' roll, Roy Davis bravely navigates his band down the dusty trail of intelligent Americana.

While Davis certainly is steeped in cowboy tradition, he tends to stay more on the side of Ryan Adams than Waylon Jennings. His lyrics are full of love and loss, of opportunities won and lost. Throughout, he maintains an intelligence about his lyrics that lifts them above the usual cavalcade of sordid stories that bog down other equally emotional albums.

"Lie Like the Snow Falls" is one of the strongest points of the album. Containing thoughtful lyrics, a gentle acoustic background, and a duet featuring local artist Elsa Cross, the track is likely to become a listener favorite.

"Dear Prison Guard" is another ballad-like track that showcases Davis's lyrical talent. Although his voice doesn't always stay on pitch, it's all part of the raw charm of the record.


While the CD certainly shines on the slower, more poignant songs, it certainly delivers on the more up-tempo numbers. "Hardly Holding On" is a fun, bouncy tune that will likely get toes tapping. And "Get What's Coming" is a refreshing rock medley that breaks up the album nicely.

For a group that recorded their album at Milltown Studios in Newmarket, they certainly have a good feel for songs that would feel right in a southern honky-tonk bar. It's this happy-go-lucky confidence that gives the album its unique flavor.

"Deadweight" is smart, twangy, and approachable. While not every song on the album will become an instant favorite, fans of artists such as Wilco and Ryan Adams owe it to themselves to give the disc a few well-deserved spins.

Recommended Tracks: "Lie Like the Snow Falls," "Hardly Holding On," "Deadweight"

Hailing from Portland, Maine, Roy Davis and the Dregs are made up of a Phoenix Best-Music nominated frontman and the self-misnamed Dregs. Davis and friends seem to live in some weird alternate world, where the sounds of several musical eras find their home in one artist. This world is represented on the group’s newest recording, Dead Weight, a disc which definitely does not live up to its downhearted name.

Davis can boast callbacks to Americana, while still sporting the newest alternative style and, somehow, make it work. If Modest Mouse mellowed down a bit and blued-out their sound, the result would be similar to the sound of Dead Weight - a little downhearted, a little uptempo and at its heart, almost painfully human. Davis seems more than capable of expressing himself not just through his vocals, but also through the entire arranged sound of each song. While they tread lightly on the current alt-country sound being popularized by groups Three Day Threshold and Girls, Guns & Glory, there seems to be less emphasis on vocal character and more on overall tone for this group. Davis’s voice isn’t entirely without character; it simply doesn’t have the larger-than life appearance of some of the more over-the-top alt-country singers of the area. Rather, his voice gains personality through its understated air. While he never sounds downright mopey, Davis’s voice takes on a fairly downtrodden tone, even when railing out fast-moving lines as he does in the verses to “Please Go Home,” one of the stronger tracks on the album. Davis sounds more in his element in the lower-keyed and stripped down tracks, such as the sparsely arranged “Come Around.”

Dead Weight is a refreshing record, stripping away the hullabaloo and yee-haw that can sometimes occur in the genre, all the while, steering clear of the mopey shoe-gaze aesthetic. (Mill Town Records)

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