Davis Coen w/ Just Groovin' Experience
Oxford, Mississippi, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2020 | INDIE
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Davis Coen
Can't Get There From Here
219 Records 1006
A nice slice of Americana, Can't Get There From Here is nothing short of a beautiful piece of work. Singer, songwriter, great guitarist and extraordinary storyteller, Davis Coen manages to blow away the fog and tell it like it is. Folk, blues and country blend for a sound that is warm and comfortable as my old denim. Bottom line...Davis Coen is the real deal. Twenty-nine and based out of Charleston, South Carolina, Coen sings what he knows, directly from the heart. While better than half of the CD's tunes were written by Coen, he manages to take possession of the well-chosen covers, giving them his own twist, while showing the utmost respect for the original authors. Davis shows a deep love and knowledge of the Blues. This is much more than a musical style: it is the essence of life. Nothing profound here, just life on life's terms. This is real, real powerful and directly from the heart. It's also easy on the ears. Who could ask for more? Can't Get There From Here is about as good as it gets. If you're looking for the latest fad, pass this one by. Davis Coen is here to stay. - Bill Wilson
- Billtown Blues Association
Helena, Arkansas - Thomas Jacques
CD: Davis Coen, "Ill Disposition." (219 Records).
OK, sure, we're a little biased. Davis dropped by our "Delta Sounds" radio program a couple of months ago, and was easily prodded by co-hosts Terry Buckalew and Sonny Payne into playing a couple of stunners.
Excitement about the forthcoming release of "Ill Disposition" was high then, and rightfully so.
Coen's fourth album is a solid release from the hard-working and popular South Carolina-based bluesman, kicking off with the truly impressive self-penned lament of the street entertainer "Busker's Blues." It's an appropriate opener, establishing both his persona as a working musician, as well as showing off his talents on as close to a contemporary pop setting as he comes on the disc. In addition to a smooth baritone in some ways similar to South Carolina's late great Walter Hyatt (certainly of the busker tradition) and some grand picking that he makes sound easy, Coen's skills as a songwriter stand out; many veteran acts could do worse than swiping "Busker's Blues" from his notebook.
Not that his other numbers are too shabby either. "Good Conversation" delves further into the Americana traditions of old buskers from Steve Goodman to Dylan to Steve Forbert, and Coen can make himself right at home there. But Coen can also sit himself down and pen fiery Texas roadhouse blues ("Got to Hold Out," aided and abetted by Joe Izzo's rat-a-tat attack on drums) or above-par traditional blues ("Two-Timer's Blues.")
His taste in covers and the breadth and boldness of his choices reveal the road wisdom of a young artist who has already made a name for himself in Memphis, Clarksdale, festivals across America, Canada, Europe, Australia, and South America. The sway of "Lay Me a Pallet on Your Floor" and Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train" provide opportunities to display his superb finger-picking and the type of demanding but quiet delivery that acoustic artists like Cotten and Mississippi John Hurt made seem so easy. More intriguing is his decision to cover a Junior Kimbrough song, "I'm in Love With You," in a similar vein, rather than tackling one of the Mississippi juke joint legend's trance-inducing stomping blues. The numbers he chooses to pick up the pace are also engaging. His takes on Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can Can" and John Lee Hooker's "Mambo Chillun" are notable. One will not mistake Coen's version of the former for Lee Dorsey nor his rendition of the latter for the brooding darkness or implied danger of Hooker, but he nonetheless knows how to work a groove and draw the dancers out onto the floor. Coen finds the funk inside himself and adds some tasty licks. - Thomas Jacques
- Delta Cultural Center Review - August 2007
Artist: Davis Coen
Title: ILL DISPOSITION
Label: 219 Records
Davis Coen's fourth album is nothing short of a well-crafted blues gem. With a deep, clear, hollow voice, Coen leads the listener down country roads and Chicago streets with tunes that showcase a refreshing blend of innovation and respect for tradition. This is not rock pretending to be blues, or gussied-up road house music with no place to go: this is the real deal, and it’s real nice to hear.Coen—who’s been touring since he was a teenager and has opened for such blues greats as Junior Wells, James Cotton and Koko Taylor---wrote five of the tracks on the album, and played guitar on every one, in a style ranging from Delta slide to Southside Chicago electric.Within the label of solid blues, Coen works a wide range of styles, encompassing the near-R&B Busker's Blues, the cool, black swamp-water groove of Something at My Feet, the traditional 12-bar Chicago Two Timer's Blues, and the laid-back honky-tonk Good Conversation. On top of that Davis does a throw-down cover of the classic Kansas City, with some mesmerizing Delta slide; adds a gritty, unadorned solid-driving blues edge to Chuck Berry's Let It Rock, and lends a sweet gumbo bop to John Lee Hooker's Mambo Chillun, where he also tears off some respectable riffs on the harp.
If you're a blues fan, you'll want this CD. And if not, shame on you, and get back to school. 'Nuff said.
-Randy Walden
- MUSIC-REVIEWER.COM , July 2007
Davis Coen,
Ill Disposition
(219 Records, 2007)
Davis Coen, who hails from South Carolina, characterizes his sound -- a mix of Southern rural styles, folk-revival, skeletal rock 'n' roll and stripped-down r&b -- as "juke-joint meets folkie." That seems close enough. On Ill Disposition it's himself, his guitar and harmonica, and drummer Joe Izzo, with four different bass players showing up separately on most of the rest of the cuts.
As the singer-songwriter era passes (after, I might add, a long-overstayed welcome), Coen is liberated from the obligation to load his album with originals. His own compositions comprise five songs, fewer than half, and I'm relieved to report that all of them do him credit, perhaps none more so than "Good Conversation" with its utterly irresistible drawled reading of the tag line "Last call to see my baby doll." You'd swear the man is singing with marbles in his mouth, but the line as delivered is both funny and sweet -- a love song without a single cliche, a little jewel of writing craft.
Elsewhere, Coen transforms Lieber/Stoller's much-recorded "Kansas City" (first recorded as "K.C. Lovin'" by Little Willie Littlefield in 1952 but better known from the 1959 hit by Wilbert Harrison under its current title) into a driving acoustic slide-guitar blues which -- to what should be the delight of any discerning listener -- causes the song to feel decades older than it is.
His immersion in musical roots buries him deeply enough to take him to more arcane material, including Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock," John Lee Hooker's "Mambo Chillun" and the late Mississippi juke-joint king Junior Kimbrough's "I'm in Love With You," also set in concise folk-blues arrangements. Well-known folk songs such as "Freight Train" (from Elizabeth Cotten) and "Lay Me a Pallet on Your Floor" rise from the dead and live again under Coen's benign influence.
The New Orleans-based 219 Records has been issuing a steady stream of first-rate roots records from gifted young artists whom I suspect most listeners are hearing for the first time. Both Coen and his label are well worth getting to know.
-Jerome Clark
- Rambles
South Carolina singer/ guitarist Davis Coen dives deeper into the Mississippi Delta on his brand-new studio album Magnolia Land, a swingin' and deeply soulful 12-song collection recorded over the course of the last two years.
Coen has a strong reputation for being able to pull just about anything from his sizeable mixed bag of traditional blues songs — from lonesome and dusty country blues to urban/Chicago-styled stuff to hillbilly twang. Here, he sings and plays with focus and confidence, picking up where he left off with last year's charming and scruffy Blue Lights for Yours and Mine. He tracked this cool new stuff at Delta Recording Service in Como, Miss., with James "Jimbo" Mathus (of Squirrel Nut Zippers, Knockdown South) at the helm and on occasional bass and guitar.
It sounds like a full-band effort with drummer Darren Dortin and guest timekeeper Kinney Kimbrough laying down beats on every track. Other special guests include assist Justin Showah (of Afrissippi) and organist Lance Ashley. A few covers made it into the set, including Howlin' Wolf "Natchez Burning" and Muddy Waters' "You Gonna Miss Me." Coen's original tunes range in style from old-school boogie (the upbeat "Anna Ann" and "Eyes Like Diamonds") to funky juke-joint soul ("Wrong Side of Town" and the surprisingly romantic "Nothin' to Hold on To").
Coen states in a press release that this album is his first "to stray completely from my much-visited Piedmont acoustic guitar style ... for electrically charged arrangements rooted deeply in the musical environs present around the Hill Country and nearby Memphis." Capturing a healthy sample of that hilly vibe, he renders "Country Girl Blues" — one of several old traditonals on the album — convincingly with his salty, deep-note singing. When he sings, "She started leavin' early in the morning/Didn't get back until the break of day ... I didn't like that!" Davis sounds like some old, lonesome man on the porch scratchin' his head and sipping his bourbon, frustrated and heartsick. His waling slide guitar licks help paint the sad picture. Peppered with bad-ass Hammond B3 licks from Ashley, lead-off track "Tired and Lonesome" is among the many highlights of this impressive blues collection.
- Charleston City Paper
Davis Coen's string of high quality blues recordings continues with the masterwork, Magnolia Land.
Coen continues to strive to bring out the big band sound on "Tired and Lonesome," a wailing stomper that starts the disc. Coen's fuzz toned guitar workouts accompany his husky vocal delivery on the humming gem, "Change in the Weather." Stripped blues and bottleneck leads dominate "Country Girl Blues" as Coen digs deep to sing mournfully, heightening the tension and release within the composition. "Nothing to Hold On To" is a slow, strutting ballad with a radio-friendly chorus.
Two separate rhythm units occupy Magnolia Land, with Jimbo Mathus on bass and Darin Dortin on drums for one half, and Justin Showah on bass with Kinney Kimbrough on drums for the other. Recorded by Mathus at Delta Recording Service in Como, Mississippi, Magnolia Land is a first class ticket to visceral blues heaven with Davis Coen confidently leading the way.
Magnolia Land is out now on Soundview.
by Bill Whiting
- Honest Tune
Davis Coen
Magnolia Land
Soundview Productions SP1004
Davis Coen's most recent release features a full band, and is as impressive as anything I've heard from him to date. As I've stated in the past, Davis' music is like a well worn denim jacket…it may have a few rough spots here and there, but it's the most comfortable thing I've found. Backed here by Jimbo Mathus, Olga, Kinney Kimbrough, and more, Coen puts together a few traditional numbers with about an equal number of his own well-written originals for a disc that is easy on the ear, fun to listen to and free flowing as the river. The musicianship here is as good as I've heard anywhere, the arrangements are beautiful and the band is working like a well-oiled machine…everything in its proper place, working as a single unit. Davis Coen and company love the music with all their hearts and it shows. Magnolia Land has real staying power. This is one that will find its way back in the player long after the responsibility of writing a review is long gone. Having written reviews for the past 14 years plus, that is a rare quality indeed. Whether alone, facing the crowd with nothing but guitar and harmonica or with full band backing Coen pulls it off with class and style…a modern day minstrel, telling his story in song to all who will give him an ear. Magnolia Land is well worth a good listen. - Bill Wilson
- Billtown Blues Association
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
The Memphis-area guitarist/singer-songwriter has toured for two decades, promoting ten album releases, and maintains steady play on SiriusXM satellite radio’s Bluesville channel since shortly after its inception in the early 2000s. Among his accomplishments are original instrumental music on the DVD version of director Martin Scorsese's PBS special “The Blues,” and live performances on the film documentary about North Mississippi Hill Country blues matriarch Jesse Mae Hemphill, called “Dare You To Do It Again.”
Coen has been touring the U.S. and Europe since his teens, either as a solo act or accompanied by a small group, mainly performing the bar and blues festival circuit. He has billed at notable annual events such as the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas, Juke Joint Fest in Clarksdale, Mississippi and Bellinzona Blues Festival in Switzerland. Coen has also shared lineups with departed blues greats like James Cotton, Koko Taylor, Big Jack Johnson, T-Model Ford, Robert Belfour and Honeyboy Edwards. Others he's opened for include Leon Russell, Richie Havens, Mountain, and Eric Burdon of the Animals.
Also notably, Davis' music was used on reality TV shows “Lizard Lick Towing” and “Home,” and independent films "Fresh Cut Grass" (2004), "Mental Scars" (2009), Fire Summer" (2017), and “Two Headed Woman” (2019).
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