Music Reviews
Dec-Jan 2004
Music of the West
Sing and Swing
By Hugh McLennan
GALAXY CABARET
Danny Mack
 Vancouver's Cement City Cowboy emerges from the studio for the third time in five years with a collection of tunes that confirm Danny Mack is one of the finest honky-tonk artists to have ever called Canada home. On the heels of his dark and stark soundtrack companion to the 2001 feature film,We All Fall Down, Mack has intelligently strung together a dozen-plus hardcore country tunes that thematically capture the essence of the genre. The heartache, yearning and resentment that are the focal points of tunes like "The Bitter Half", "I Remember Loving You", and "You Beat Me To The Door" are balanced by inspired odes to good times like "Old Amsterdam", "Rock This Place" and "Dance With Me".
From shuffles to ballads to swing injected arrangements, Mack sounds inspired from start to finish on this welcome set. Mack's passion obviously caught the attention of his musical associates and the support playing and singing is absolutely first class throughout. It's an all-star cast that includes drummer Jerry Adolphe and steel guitar ace Jim Dorin. Guitarists Dan Tapinila and Brent Shindel as well as bassist Lee Stephens have a long history with Mack as a group of players whose collective contributions to keeping hardcore honky-tonk music alive on the west coast since the early seventies cannot be underestimated. Gord Maxwell from Ian Tyson's road band provides deadly background and harmony vocals throughout. The end result is a recording that perfectly captures the heart and soul of Danny Mack. Danny Mack's website is www.dannymack.com
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