Artist: David Grissom Album: How It Feels To Fly Bitrate: 252kbps avg Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz Label: Blue Rose Records Genre: Rock Size: 120.40 megs PlayTime: 1h 03min 19sec total Rip Date: 2014-02-01 Store Date: 2014-02-07 Track List: -------- 01. Bringin' Sunday Mornin' To 4:18 Saturday Night 02. How It Feels To Fly 4:22 03. Georgia Girl 3:16 04. Never Came Easy To Me 5:05 05. Way Jose 4:20 06. Overnight 3:39 07. Gift Of Desperation 4:25 08. Satisfied 3:47 09. Jessica (Live) 9:04 10. Way Down Deep (Live) 6:47 11. Flim Flam (Live) 9:48 12. Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings 4:28 (Live) Release Notes: -------- The "eternal sideman" DAVID GRISSOM has successfully been working on a solo career for a number of years now. With his 4th album, the exceptional Texan guitarist finally arrives where he belongs: on the Blue Rose label. With its roots/guitar/Americana roster, Blue Rose is the natural home for the Austin-based string wrangler and will contribute to his long-overdue breakthrough in Europe. How It Feels To Fly is the album title - and indeed, Grissom plays music that will elevate your spirits - be it at full volume in your home stereo or on stage. He will soon play his first headlining tour through German clubs! John Mellencamp, Joe Ely, James McMurtry, Storyville, Charlie & Bruce Robison, Chris Knight, the Allman Brothers, Robben Ford, Ringo Starr, John Mayall, Buddy Guy, Chris Issak and the Dixie Chicks can't all be wrong. And those are only the most important cornerstones of Grissom's career. The guitarist is the go-to guy when a singer-songwriter wants to up the rock factor of their music. David Grissom has succeeded in creating his own sound and a stellar reputation based on his bone-dry Keith-inspired riffing and his signature no frills-lead guitar attacks. But amid his busy schedule as a sidekick he has never lost sight of his true dream which he has been making come true since 2008: writing his own songs, singing them with a surprisingly charismatic voice, recording and producing them at home (Spicewood Studios, Texas) and à obviously, putting his inimitable style of playing the guitar in focus! In 2008 he debuted with the aptly titled Loud Music, followed by 10,000 Feet in the spring of '09. The latter put a little more focus on the songwriting without, of course, neglecting his love for electric roots'n'roll and blues rock. In late 2011 Grissom continued his streak with the album Way Down Deep featuring six numbers - 3 songs and 3 instrumentals, all of them more than five minutes long. How It Feels To Fly with twelve tracks and a running time of 63:25 minutes is a new full-length album full of David Grissom. It features eight brand-new songs recorded at Grissom's own Spicewood Studios located northwest of Austin, Tx., the other four songs (a full half-hour long) are live recordings from April 2013 at Austin's legendary Saxon Pub. Everything was recorded by the four-piece band without outside overdubs. The sole exception are some backing vocals from Kacy Crowley, Candi Sanders and singer-songwriter Drew Womack on the studio tracks (which, by the way, have the same power and attitude as the live tracks). Keyboarder/backing vocalist Stefano Intelisano (Honeybrowne, Danny Schmidt, Jesse Dayton), bassist Scott Nelson (Toni Price, Doyle Bramhall) and drummer Bryan Austin are the powerhouse band behind singer and guitarist extraordinaire David Grissom. "Bringin' Sunday Mornin' To Saturday Night" is a riff-rocking, hooky blues rocker that gets the album started and every air guitarist in ecstasy. From the driving title track - which reminds us in its raw power of Tommy Keene and The Who - and the lively Southern roots rock of "Georgia Girl" we get to "Never Came Easy To Me", the first song featuring Grissom on acoustic guitar - before he adds a few master class electric guitar solos. The instrumental "Way Jose" is a typical Texas blues shuffle like all of Grissom's idols from Freddie King to Stevie Ray Vaughan used to play them - delivered first-rate with a beautiful organ excursion by Stefan Intelisano. Smack in the center of the album are the Americana numbers: The mostly acoustic roots rock ballad "Overnight" with beautiful harmonies by co-writer Kacy Crowley, the folk-blues rocker "Gift Of Desperation" and the Southern-soul-inspired "Satisfied" on which Grissom presents himself as a Texas storyteller with the ability to play a pristine acoustic solo and, again, gets excellent support from Crowley. And from there on out Grissom (blues) rocks the album home in mindblowing fashion. First there's the Allman Brothers classic "Jessica" in an authentic 9-minute version including a Check Leavell-type solo by Intelisano, then there's two original numbers from the Way Down Deep CD: the title track (6:47) in a well-tempered shuffle rock version and "Flim Flam", a kickass Southern blues rock/jam/instrumental. The album ends with a heartfelt, powerful version of "Nasty Dogs & Funky Kings", originally by ZZ Top (Fandango, 1975) which are undoubtedly a major influence on David Grissom and his straight, uncompromising mix of rock'n'roll and blues. All of this makes How It Feels To Fly his masterpiece so far, a satisfying, hot mix of Southwest roots rock & blues.