 by DWIGHT HOBBES
For an artist whose coverage in the area press ranges from scant to none, Rasta bard David Daniels doesn’t do badly for himself. In fact, his appearances routinely pack the house. Word of mouth gets around that Daniels is gonna perform at such-and-such a place and that’s good enough: folk show up in droves. He shrugs with a self-effacing smile and chalks it up to “that communal, cooperative spirit that has its base and root in the counter-culture. If you can remember, a lot of the early counter-cultural artists did not get widespread, commercial following in the beginning. It was word of mouth, person to person and a sense of community and that got the word out.” Fair enough. The dreadlocked Daniels, who used to baby-sit for some of the people who come to his shows, is, indeed, a longstanding fixture on what’s left of Minneapolis’ hippie scene. So, in part, it’s simply a matter of audiences getting out to support one of theirs.
There’s also the fact that Daniels happens to be pretty damned good. Accordingly,
the success of Talkin’
Roots, his spoken word CD debut, which sold out two independently released
printings with lightning speed, is attributable to a bit more than the loyalty
of an underground family of friends.  His
fans respond to, along with his social sensibilities, his sure hand with prose-poetry
and excellent oratory—ranging from quietly thoughtful reflection to thunderous,
voice-of-God hellraising. 4:20 Report, the new offering with his backup
band The Talkin’
Roots Crew, this time on Interlock Records, is another fine release that
will jump off shelves faster than the first one. The title, taken from the California
Highway Patrol code for a marijuana bust, has been adopted by weedheads as a
signal that it’s time to toke up. That certainly will connect with crowds
that are accustomed to showing up stoned at a David Daniels gig, where they
often follow his on-stage lead and waste no time getting stoneder. More than
just a gimmick, though, 4:20 Report is a concept album—what Daniels
calls, “a news commentary with myself and The Crew weaving our work through
it. [Plus] a touch of the ‘stoner’ performance vibe as pioneered
by Cheech and Chong as well as Firesign Theater.”
Folded into the format along with Daniels’ material are contributions
from some of the boys in the band. The roster is David Daniels as Newscaster,
Van Nixon (vocals, guitar, djembe), Isaac “Ike” Russell (vocals,
bass), Dan Boldt (various percussion), Dan Schauer (dunebec, djembe) and Charlie
Braden (sax) with Twin Cities music fixture, veteran harmonicat Nate Stevens
(Wookiefoot, The Steven Brothers, The Beads) guesting. Russell, co-writing with
his dad, Mike “Razz” Russell, of Harmony Ridge Creekdippers renown,
sings lead on the slow-down-and-take-life-easier ditty “Joyous Sound.”
Van Nixon funks it up with a wry vocal for “The System”—a
soulful, wizened indictment of social convention. And there’s the true
stand-out cut: Daniels’ “Jah Forgive,” a blues-driven jag
behind a prose verse that goes along the lines of, “Now, what does reggae
have to do with the blues, one may say? Pose the question. Maybe it has something
to do with, uh, pain. I mean, all of us, from the moment of birth, feeling a
little pain. Bob Marley was once asked, ‘Why the title The Wailers?’
Bob Marley said it all came back down to the blues.” Whereupon Daniels
rears back with the roaring chant of a chorus, “Jah forgive us, for we
know not what he do.” If you haven’t already picked up a copy, you
can check out the whole album when David Daniels and The Talkin’ Roots
Crew perform at the official release gig this Sunday night on the Acadia Café
stage.
While you’re waiting for Daniels and company to go on, you shouldn’t
have any trouble staying awake through the opening act. It’s Stevens,
who quite imaginably will do double duty—his set, plus sitting in with
the headliners.
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Nate Stevens has been on the scene since the
early ‘90s, starting his career at coffee shops around Saint Paul before
moving on to the clubs, including The Fine Line, The Cabooze, The 400 Bar, The
Red Sea, 7th Street Entry, Turf Club and pretty much every other spot in the
Twin Cities and surrounding environs. His newest venture is an 8-piece outfit
called Mad Love, in which he’s joined by Matt Cartee (drums), Scott Holtzinger
(guitar), Marcus Schmid (keyboards), Matthew Stevens (bass) and vocalists Alyssa
Kluver, Nicole Paul and Emily Star. He’ll be solo this time out and is
looking forward to the evening. Reflecting on the hand he had in recording 4:20
Report, Stevens says, “It was great. Dave gave me a call, somewhere
in the process [of making the album]. We were hangin’ out with Danny Boldt
and Danny Schauer at a show, ‘Masters of Percussion,’ at [Minnesota]
Orchestra Hall. They were talkin’ about the project. I said, ‘If
you ever need any harmonica work on the project, let me know.’ And he
did. I was more than happy to lay down some tracks. It was fine.” ||
David Daniels plays the CD release show for 4:20 Report on Sun.,
Oct. 15 at the Acadia Café with Nate Stevens. 7 p.m. $7. 1931 Nicollet
Ave. S., Mpls. 612-874-8702.
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