In 1995 I purchased several blues and soul albums among them Percy Sledge’s “Blue Nights” and Little Buster
and The Soul Brother’s “Right On Time” much to my delight both albums contained the song “First You Cry”.
I noted that the songwriter’s names were David Egan and Buddy Flett.
In 1998 I tripped over Johnny Adam’s “Man of My Word” cd. The late Johnny Adams was the toast of
New Orleans and today he remains in the hearts of music fans everywhere. On this Johnny’s last album,
he open’s with “Even Now” also penned by David Egan and Buddy Flett. When I first heard it, it was so good;
it’s the kind of song where you check to see who wrote it, I played it over and over. “Blues Access” magazine
wrote “There’s something especially poignant about the track that leads off his final album, recorded when he
knew he was dying of cancer. David Egan and Buddy Flett’s terrific composition is an adult look at a rocky
relationship, and Adams oh-so-knowingly wraps himself around it like the master he was.”
I attended my third “New Orleans Jazz & Heritage” festival and there I heard for the first time the “Lil’ Band of Gold”.
I left New Orleans with their cd that I had purchased in the cd tent. There in the band was David Egan on keyboards,
and he was singing on “First You Cry”. I couldn’t believe it.
Later that year or maybe the next I attended Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Festival. Michael produces the best
New Orleans festival that I have ever attended in the northeast and I will never miss it. He brings in five bands
for Saturday and another five for Sunday. The festival is held in Augusta New Jersey and takes place each year
on the first weekend in June. One year he had “Lil’ Band of Gold” and the next year he had “File’”, a Cajun band.
David Egan was in both bands. For “File’” he penned both “One Foot in The Bayou” and “I Just Can’t Do Right”
on the album “La Vie Marron, The Runaway Life”. Recently I began writing cd reviews for The New York
Blues and Jazz Society website (www.nybluesandjazz.org) and I
contacted David Egan to do a review of his album. David Egan to me is the best new songwriter in the
tradition of Dan Penn. Who is Dan Penn? Well that’s another review.
Great performers choose great songs to sing, because they can, and because they know.
Emotions run high in David’s songs. It is a unique talent to say just a few words and have them evoke deep feelings.
Your writing has to be concise and to the point. You have to know music very well. You have to know where the
singer might pause, where he might sigh. I am not a musician but I’ve been told I have a good ear. It doesn’t take
too good an ear when your listening to a David Egan song. The man can write a song, really.
The album opens with a piece called “Twenty Years of Trouble”. It’s about a life, making trouble
“out of nothing”. David Egan recently quit “File’”. It was an agonizing thing for David, but David will have
his own band. On this outing there are 30 musicians who lend David a hand so that there is no trouble,
including Steve Riley, C.C. Adcock, Miki Honeycutt, and Buddy Flett. David says when he made this album,
he and his wife “sold the net”, that they’re now working without one. The song however is about a rocky relationship
not really the good one I know David has. I expect they will play Michael Arnone’s Crawfish Festival someday soon.
Here is the rest of “David Egan & 20 Years of Trouble”.
“Slingshots and Boomerangs”, David tells me he wrote this while riding a bus when he was on tour with File.
They rode past a truck full of “rickety-ass sticks”, the drummer said “’Man, they ain’t gonna get anything outta that
but a load of slingshots and boomerangs”. We all better watch what we say around this guy, he might just write
a song about it. This one is about a woman who uses people.
“If She Calls…” “and I’m not at home tell her to come on in”. Need I say more.
“You laugh about my dreams, you make fun of my lovin”, but “I was Good to You Baby”.
“Half Past The Blues”, “I Just Can’t Do Right”, “Fail, Fail, Fail” rocky relationships.
Next comes “People Will Be People”. This song and two others David wrote appeared on the album “Sing It”
by Marcia Ball, Tracy Nelson, and Irma Thomas. It’s a feel good song.
“Beg, Borrow & Steal”, “She don’t Play By The Rules”, each of these songs are strong enough to appear as
covers on other artist’s albums. With a crack backup band often he gets into a deep New Orleans groove while
other times he has an almost Cajun feel. He can also be downright jazzy as on the opening track.
Three “bonus” tracks follow. The “live” “After This Time”, shows us that David has a sharp sense of humor
as he introduces the song. “If You Knew How Much” and “Wake Up Call” follows. Each song is penned by David.
Six are co-written with Buddy Flett, (two of which are also credited to Earl & Ernie Cate. One is co-written with
C. C. Adcock and one with David Love Lewis.
David just had Etta James record his song “Please, No More” on her new “Let’s Roll”
album. If your looking for a new emerging artist to brighten up your day look no further than David Egan.