Label: Future Farmers Recordings

Release Date: October 21, 2003

David Dondero - The Transient
Matthew Ralph

To say David Dondero is a road warrior would be an insane understatement. The guy has spent much of the last decade traveling the interstates, playing to sound guys who don't even bother to look up from their book to hear his frenzied songs. He's looked longingly out car windows, marveling at the great complexity of the nation's highway system.

His story as told in his latest effort is clearly inspired by this exhilarating lifestyle of dotting the map of the U.S. playing crappy shows. Singing about the bored sound guy in the empty club in "Living and the Dead," the thousands of engineers responsible for the highways and bridges in the country in "Song for the Civil Engineer" or the open road as his home in "The Stars Are My Chandelier," Dondero uses his own transient lifestyle as inspiration. Where else can you find material so rich and so rooted in the American tradition but the thousands of miles of paved road?

Alternating between contemplative looking-up-at-the-stars ballads to frantic, caffeinated rockers with his quivery voice perfect for keeping you awake from those tiresome trances, Dondero's record provides the perfect travel companion. Unlike Mapquest that will often lead you astray, he speaks from his gut and his honest experiences, jotting down his reflections on receipts from truck stop diners and retracing lines that lead back to Wilmington, N.C.

Though not as spirited and spontaneous as his live show, which is truly captivating to see - his no frills approach to songwriting and performance translating into an infectious stage presence, his latest effort is a fine introduction to a voice speaking up for the struggling musician and the underbelly of the glamourous road life detailed in the pages of glossy magazines. It's also a glimpse into the inner thoughts of a man concerned more with the adventure and documenting of life on the road — the grit, the blur and the intrigue — than raking in money from bar hoppers. As he sings in "Ashes On the Highway" his dying wish is simply to have his ashes spread over the highway without much of a thought. Hopefully, when that day comes his songs won't be lost on the highway with his remains, because that would be an American tragedy.

posted 06.06.04

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Matt Ralph has bags full of bad CD's. Add to his collection at matt@tangzine.com

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