Dayton brings barroom authenticity to country music
Consequently, Dayton records for the independent Houston label Justice Records and will never get radio airplay on mainstream country stations, but he hardly seems to care. He is held in high esteem by his peers, such as the king of western-swing fiddle, Johnny Gimble, and the great accordionist, Flaco Jimenez, both of whom play on this album.
Their respect is not unwarranted. Dayton is a talented songwriter. He writes mostly autobiographical songs about his life in a Texas border town, playing bars and trying to get people to listen to his music. The most fun the singer has is in "Carmelita (Show Me How to Dance)," a Tex-Mex tune in which he goes to a cantina where he's "the only white boy on the floor while they're laughing from the bar to the door."
Most of the time though, his life seems dreary. It's a life where "your guarantee goes up while your love life goes down," as Dayton writes in "Blood Bucket Blues," and indeed, throughout the disc's dozen songs, the singer is never happy with his love life.
In "Playing With a Memory" he meets an old love by chance and clearly still has a place left in his heart for her, despite his wife and child. In the humorous "Angel Like You," he gets beer thrown in his face after a brilliantly unsuccessful attempt to pick up a woman.
He's in love with a woman in "Next Time I'm in Town," but due to his transient life as a bar performer, he doesn't get to spend much time with her. "Lonesome señoritas welcome me to bed / Instead of love I'm sold lust instead," Dayton writes in "Boystown."
This disc is so evocative it could almost be considered a concept album. Dayton paints a picture of a life that most people never see, life in the tiny Texas border towns where "ain't much changed in the last 30 years," and Jimmie Rodgers and Lefty Frizell are still household names.
It's a place where a young Jesse Dayton can follow his dream of singing and writing songs because he has no better opportunities. "It's a life that I just can't refuse," he sings. There's no denying his sincerity. The listener can't help but wonder whether the bar gigs could dry up, and Dayton himself could be the 52-year-old office worker in the beautifully understated "Time to Go" who gets laid off from his job and wonders, "What in the hell am I gonna do with myself?"
Dayton's strengths are honesty and a way with lyrics. He does not have an exceptional voice, but he makes up for it with raw emotion. The album relies heavily on steel guitar, the perfect backdrop for Dayton's hard-luck, retro songs. He'll probably never meet with enough commercial success to match the critical acclaim he's received, but he sounds like he wouldn't ask for much more than life as a Texas barroom performer.
This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the October 27, 1995 issue.
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