QUOTES
“Like taking a ride in a convertible with close friends on a sunny summer day.”
— Cheryl Sundberg, Festival Director, Porcupine Mountains Music Festival
“Dave Boutette and Kristi Davis make beautiful music together. Charming is the word that keeps coming to me. It’s a crazy world right now, but listening to Dave and Kristi will make you forget that for an album length and we all could use that right now.”
— John Bommarito, Host of Acoustic Alternatives
“Year after year Dave Boutette continues to to write exceedingly well crafted songs. His melodies flow easefully over his chord structures, while his lyrics conjure up vivid images and tell amazing stories. Dave’s music is now further enhanced by the harmony singing of Kristi Davis. Their two voices blend together flawlessly. On their new recording, Dave and Kristi are backed up by a super-tight band. This album is a gem!”
— Peter Madcat Ruth, Grammy Award winning harmonica player and all around champion human
“Dave and Kristi are what we all need in these challenging times… Irrepressible verve and joy. These are exceptionally fine songs delivered with authentic voices, stellar musicianship, and great production.”
— Daniel Bracken, Wheatland Music Org, Programming Committee
“Dave Boutette never seems to run out of stories and melodies that are filled with colorful and magical flavors. He is our own Paul Simon in the North Midwest who keeps the campfire burning and the songs going deep into the night. In Kristi Lynn Davis, he has found the perfect life and music partner. She lovingly and confidently pitches in with a line harmony to match Dave’s melodies. You’ll want to sit down and listen to Seven Stars Around The Moon so you don’t miss a single word or note.”
— Jamie-Sue Seal, Smokin’ Sleddog Records & Touring
“You can guarantee Dave & Kristi will bring some much needed cheer to the challenging times we’re facing. One listen will show you why they’re among our favorite performers at Trinity House.”
— Bill Keith, Trinity House Theatre
“Lush, folk-inspired harmonies intertwined with acoustic anthems, fireside singalongs and peppy get-up-and-go tunes.”
– By Lori Stratton – September 10, 2018 – Current Magazine
“Dave Boutette has strummed his way into the ears – and hearts – of people in these parts for decades, playing his unique melodies and telling stories through his music as only he can – in an engaging, enlightening and always fun style that has served him well.”
— Sunday Feature : WeLoveDexter.com
— The Nor-East’r Music & Art Festival
“Dave Boutette fuses a sort of classic folk feel ala Woody Guthrie or early Dylan with kisses of modern alt folk edginess and a touch of crooner blues. The result is unique and refreshing, with music that lets you pay attention to the wonderful stories while experiencing them in subtly non traditional singer/songwriter fashions. You can also think of Tom Waits without the gruff voice. Songs like “Waltz For Smelt,” “Dime In Hand” and “New Parade” cast perspective on his talents. Music that is catchy, honest and enjoyable as well as being skillfully crafted.”
– Music Morsels
REVIEWS
Easy As Pie (WNMC, Traverse City Review)
“Easy as Pie is a well-known cliche, but as the culinary challenged know well, pie isn’t always so easy. But, man, it’s good when it turns out. Easy as Pie turns out, rest assured. As usual Dave’s songwriting is spot on and he works hard putting each song in a appropriate and distinctive setting. This time out, though, there’s a special treat: a collaborator, Kristi Davis, whose voice blends with Dave’s almost uncannily. Check out “Arms Around You, Too” for a great example of the vocal work. Try the small band swing instrumentation of “Daily Grind” or the dobro on the title track for great examples of effective music settings. At seven songs, the disc leaves the listener hungering for more. But that’d be fattening.”
— WNMC, Traverse City
Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
“From its cracked cabaret start to the Salvation Army march of its endearing title track, The Piccolo Heart exhibits a rare sense of musical and lyrical humor that is not only refreshingly original and most welcome, it is entirely infectious. Like Tom Waits without the early years of bourbon and the latter years of brimstone, Boutette’s crafty songs intermittently creep up or pounce on you. Either way, you’re along for a fun ride. A decidedly happy slop sink of styles, the Junk Monkey’s former guitarist ranges woozily from the above mentioned cabaret (Dime In Hand, Love Won’t Go Away (“So you’d better make room for it”), then waltzes blithely into Girl In Love (“Who swept the moon from the sky?”). Wilco whispers Brave Little Darling while a bowed bass wreaks havoc on the deceptively pretty First Snow of November. Throw in an inventive rendering of Stephen Foster’s Why No One to Love?’ and The Piccolo Heart becomes a true restorative in every sense of the word.”
– Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
Ann Arbor News
“Confetti is destined to become one of those CDs I cite for proof when talking about the world-class talent with which Ann Arbor is blessed. Ann Arbor-area favorite Dave Boutette sings here in a folksy style that’s pure Midwestern – comfortable like a favorite easy chair.”
– Ann Arbor News
REVIEW: The Piccolo Heart – Il Popolo del Blues (Italian)
Nel continuo fermento artistico della scena musicale americana e nel suo continuo alternarsi di next big thing e replicanti di vecchie rock icone rock, ogni tanto fa capo qualche sopresa interessante ma pochissime volte accade di trovarsi di fronte a cantautori con reali possibilità di sfondare e molto spesso si tratta solo di lampi momentanei come accadde negl’anni novanta con Phil Cody con The Sons of Intemperance Offering. Di recente si fa un gran parlare di Dave Boutette, un giovane cantautore dalla grandi qualità, che da poco ha pubblicato The Piccolo Heart, un disco di pregevole fattura che mescola sperimentazione e ricerca sonora con un limpido songwriting. Boutette non è un pivellino, ma anzi ha una bella esperienza alle spalle prima con i Junk Monkeys, una punk rock band di Detroit poi come solista. I suoi tre album precedenti non hanno avuto grande risonanza ma ascoltandoli si ha la sensazione che il suo talento emerga progressivamente e se letto in questo senso The Piccolo Heart, è il suo disco della maturità presentando un vero e proprio salto di qualità rispetto al passato. All’ascolto si ha la sensazione di essere di fronte ad un cantautore, una spanna più in alto rispetto al più recente Ryan Adams e ben lontano dalla sua ripetitività, essendo questo disco assolutamente vario nei suoni e soprattutto nelle strutture musicali. Il disco si apre con un uno-due esaltante prima con la torrida Dime in Hand e poi con la piccola sinfonia sgangherata di Won’t Go Away che parte a ritmo di polka per poi diventare un blues sferragliante che richiama Highway 61 di Bob Dylan sirene comprese. Seguono ballate pregevoli come Iva, Girl In Love dove le chitarre incontrano il violoncello, e la splendida Waltz For Smelt che ricorda un po’ The Band e un po’ Tom Petty. Ciò che colpisce è comunque la cura sonora, ed in questo complice di Boutette è stato sia l’ottimo Adam Druckman alla produzione sia il sostegno di alcuni membri dei Great Lakes Myth Society, che suonano nelle varie tracce ed in particolare nella bellissima First Snow Of November, un brano quasi rumoristico che ci porta nei pressi del Tom Waits più sperimentale. Sul finale arrivano prima la fascinosa Walk Me Home Again e la rilettura Why No One to Love?, dal songbook di Stephen Foster, poi la sinuosa title track sostenuta dall’accordion di John Comfort, che suggella un disco quasi perfetto. Non ci sentiamo di usare la parola capolavoro ma senza dubbio The Piccolo Heart è un disco che lascerà il segno.
– Il Popolo del Blues
