David Chenery & the Lonesome Valley Singers

A time comes when aging punks pour whiskey over their wounds and cast off their chains. In such times it is a special breed that picks up the acoustic guitar and plays melodies haunted by tradition, to words written in the flames of their own lost youth. Victorian David Chenery is one such man — a Misfit fiend turned haggard crooner. Chenery has crossed the wild alt-country plains, with twangs of spiritual expansion and pangs of disillusionment in his dust. Chenery and his infernal quartet follow their initial release, Tonight I’ll Singing in the Devil’s Choir of 2003, with Memorial. Their latest is a further distillation of the sounds Chenery concocted with his former band the Moonshine Revellers. New influences are heard in echoes from the twisted accordian and the anguished jowls of fellow Victorian, David P. Smith, whose song "Sunday” the band covers. Notable ghosts include Hank Williams’ "When God Comes and Gathers His Jewels” and the traditional "St. James Infirmary.” Chenery imbues the haunting spectre of tradition with a beautifully sad and wandering soul, to which his original songs are equal testament. If you find yourself drawn towards the destitute, or simply see better in the dark, make your way to the Lonesome Valley and the tattered hymnal of David Cenery.