CD Review: Josh Daniels – I Can’t Stay – by Bob Everhart for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show

JOSH DANIELS

I Can’t Stay

My Rifle, My Pony, and Me – Some Broken Hearts Never End –
Heartaches By The Number – Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes – Ramblin’ Fever
– Tight Fittin’ Jeans – Cattle Call – Three Wooden Crosses – I Can’t
Stay

Josh Daniels is the young man who studied opera
for more than four years and then discovered country music, and on this,
his newest CD, he opens with a terrific ‘western’ song.  It’s Josh’s
voice that is attracting such a large audience and fan base for him, and
he sure knows how to use it.  The songs he selected to perform on this
CD is an incredible cross section of what ‘real’ country music was, and
still is, all about.  Just hearing these great songs is indeed a
pleasure, but to hear them done the way Josh does them makes it an even
more pleasant listening experience.  The very first song is a ‘cowboy’
song done exactly the way the genre was original expressed.  Josh lists
some of the musicians, he’s playing rhythm guitar, Jerry Forney on
steel, Paul Fay on bass, and on this very first song a very pleasant
harmonica, player not listed.  Don William’s very meaningful song “Some
Broken Hearts Never End” is really done well, bringing the steel in and
making it a truly memorable listening experience.  The same thing
happens when you listen to “Heartaches By The Number.”  I really like
the steel and electric guitar ‘lead’ swaps.  This is the way it was when
‘country’ music was truly ‘country’ and that’s exactly what Josh is
recapturing.  His voice is a powerful musical instrument bringing the
words of the songs back to life.  This is an extraordinary listening
experience, and Josh reminds us all about the problem of ‘country music
identification.’  “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” he does the ‘asking’
right smack to the very middle of the ‘loss’ of a musical genre in
America.  All of the songs on this album are completely ‘fitting’ to
what Josh Daniels is ‘asking’ his fans.  “Is this what you want to
hear?  Is this the ‘real’ country music you are talking about?  Is this
the message you want to hear?  And of course the answer is a very viable
‘yes’ this is what it’s all about.  Josh Daniels is 23 years old.  He
KNOWS what he’s doing, and he’s using his voice to make his statement. 
He is utilizing the very musical instruments that made this particular
musical genre so successful in ‘rural’ America for so many years.  There
are some additional instruments not listed on the CD cover, a super
good sounding fiddle is on several tunes, and there is some very nice
acoustic guitar sounds that also help convey the same message Josh is so
brilliantly presenting, with his captivating voice, in this project. 
We are very fortunate to have Josh living close enough to us to include
him in some of our musical offerings at the Oak Tree Opry in Anita,
Iowa.  He will be doing a concert there June 14th, showtime 7pm.  He is
also booked on the National Old Time Music Festival at the Christensen
Field House in Fremont Nebraska, October 3-4-5-6.  I’ll be sending this
CD off to the Rural Roots Music Commission for their perusal, as well as
Country Music News International.

RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART, Pres., National Traditional Country Music Assn., www.music-savers.com for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show