Ethan Daniel Davidson

Ethan Daniel Davidson answers the question what if Woody Guthrie was alive today? From a life of hoboism and activism to songs entrenched in Guthrie's style, Davidson has taken aim at everything from globalisation, U.S./Muslim relations and dot com massacres over the course of his five albums. Don Quixote De Suburbia, as the title suggests, forwards Davidson's mandate to needle the system from without, proving that once again a skinny middle-class American kid can offer up a compelling intellectual critique of the world in a four-minute anti-pop song. And whereas his earlier work was akin to Bob Dylan pre-electricity, Don Quixote embraces technology (check the remix feel of "Ghosts of Mississippi") and finds the troubadour coming into his own voice. "Hard Times for Ishmael and Isaac" uses the wishbone brotherhood of Abraham's offspring to point out the roots of modern racism and xenophobia, all in a harsh blues style reminiscent of Bone Machine. "The Great Leap Backwards,” a simple guitar/harmonica ode, takes the Bush government to task for quashing certain rights, and "Globalize Your Local" offers an innovative way to fight global corporate rule. Ethan Daniel Davidson is among the new breed of American protest singer. The FBI will file him alongside Steve Earle, Michelle Shocked and Andras Jones.