CD Review of "Live"

by Ashwyn Smyth – Digital Blues

    I forget how many times I have been fortunate enough to catch Danny live over the years but it has never been less than a highlight in the gig going calendar. Excellent as his various studio CDs have been, it is in live performance that he excels. The release of this live CD is long overdue therefore and I am sure that this will be an album which will be clamoured for by his many admirers and new converts who attend his gigs. Recorded live at one of Danny’s favourite venues, The Flowerpot in Derby in September last year, the CD captures at least some of the excitement and power that is ever present at this talented young man’s gigs.

    The fact that all bar three tracks of this CD are Danny’s own compositions also pays tribute to how he has matured both as a singer & guitarist but also as a writer. But it is as a guitarist that Danny is best known and most widely hailed and this CD certainly demonstrates why. From the opening bars of track one – ‘Heartbreaker’ to the throbbing finale – ‘Good Time Woman’, Danny wrings out musical magic from his guitar, whether it is straight-ahead rocking or the beautiful singing guitar which typifies his playing and is perhaps best displayed in his glorious cover of Dylan’s ‘Girl From The North Country’. I know that his playing is not to everyone’s’ taste and thank God for that for life would be very samey if everyone played & liked the same stuff!

    Like him or not, Danny’s playing is very honest and gets into your soul, so many of us can identify with the lyrics of ‘This Is The Blues’ whilst the dirty guitar which underpins it is so right for the song and we cannot fail to be affected by the emotion and depth of feeling of ‘Always With Me’ which Danny dedicates to his wife, the lovely Kirby.

    Certainly any Danny Bryant fan will want this CD in their collection as will many others who want something to remind themselves of a talented artist caught live on a night when the stars were shining brightly and his guitar was smoking! 

Ashwyn Smyth – Digital Blues. Jan 2007

www.digitalblues.co.uk