Despite being written and performed in Sweden and his hometown of Perth, Western Australia, it took a bitter London winter and a baked-bean dinner date with a honky-tonk pianist to bring Davey Craddock to record his debut EP, Introducing Davey Craddock.
Recorded in 2009 with London producer Oscar Cainer in his Muswell Hill studio, Introducing Davey Craddock warmly captures Craddock’s folk, blues and alt-country leaning material being swept along by a dusty bar-room backing of double bass, piano and banjo.
It was a student-exchange year in Sweden spent studying music and living with an opera singer that first inspired Craddock to write. Stuck inside on account of Sweden’s famously short days and cold temperatures, and with a particularly inspiring vinyl boutique just around the corner, Craddock amassed a steady pile of material and 4-track demos throughout 2003. After striking a deal with the principal of a Gothenburg music school to sit in on English lessons in return for studio time, he was soon experimenting and recording almost daily in a gloriously appointed, tax-payer funded school studio thanks to the wonders of Swedish socialism. After many snow-capped pub gigs and a wobbly show on a Baltic cruise liner playing to Scandinavian retirees, Craddock headed home to Perth, Western Australia in 2004 to continue playing to whoever would listen.
Since returning to Perth with his initial flat-pack of pine-scented songs, Craddock has further developed his lyrically dextrous and melodic style. He continues to play regular and well-received solo shows and has supported some of Western Australia’s finest song-writing talent including Abbe May, Felicity Groom, Jeff Strong and Justin Walsh. A recent trip to Nashville also allowed Davey to try out his material on the harshest critics around at a number of writers nights.
Craddock’s debut introduces listeners to five varied sides of his candid, observational brand of folk: the tongue-in-cheek balladeer grappling with authenticity (Bourgeois Blues), the breezy alt-country toe-tapper (Peanuts), the trad-folk troubadour (The End Of The Curve), the jangly pop preacher (Rolling River) and the barnstorming, word-spitting country sentimentalist (My Street).
Mastered at King Size Sound Chicago by Mike Hagler (Wilco, Calexico, Neko Case), Introducing Davey Craddock has the lo-fi warmth, clarity and intimacy befitting of Craddock’s honest conversational style.
With RTR FM breakfast presenter and aural connoisseur Peter Barr describing Davey’s music as “good”, Introducing Davey Craddock will undoubtedly go some way to proving what all the fuss is about.
“Craddock’s upbeat ballads waver between meditative half-singing and chesty vocal bursts with enough meat in them to bring the microphone near to distortion. He’s skilled but not plastic.” Faster Louder Australia
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