Dave Gunning

From the opening twang of this album, it seems easy to describe Dave Gunning; he’s good-time, old-town country. Lost dog country. Truck broke country. But then you look closer, see a different splash of mud and find more underneath. Opening track "These Roads” longs for home, with a wonderfully rich instrumental sound drawing you along the roads that will all eventually lead back to love. "Hard Workin’ Hands” extols the virtues of hard work while also maintaining a sense of self when the work day ends, which is mirrored by Gunning’s youthful voice matched to the wiser one of Dr. Ron Hynes. Musically, it maintains a clarity of tone while creating a complex and well-crafted interplay of lines. This album encapsulates what we want out of the best albums of the genre: each song flowing along narrative and musical lines with never a word or note out of place.