Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band sing Dancing on the Edge Cassette (Ever/Never, 2023)
"A pure collage of modernity and heritage." - Brian Turner
“This is the sound of someone bearing a torch.” - Bill Callahan
"In Kurt Vonnegut’s debut novel, 1952’s Player Piano, the author delivered one of his defining ideas through the mouth of his character Ed Finnerty: “Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center… Big, undreamed-of things—the people on the edge see them first.” Seventy years on, this Kentucky-based songwriter traces life’s edges in the same spirit, contemplating the human capacities for open-hearted euphoria and harrowing pain... In his investigation of the human spirit, Davis has learned to embrace worry and wonder as companions for a restless heart. His place at the edge may be perilous, precarious, and occasionally lonely, but it’s got one hell of a view." - Allison Hussey (Pitchfork, *7.9 / Best Rock Albums of 2023)
"After more than fifteen years of releasing music on labels like Feeding Tube, Load Records, Astral Spirits, Bruit Direct Disques, Petty Bunco, All Gone, and others (including, if not primarily, his very own Sophomore Lounge imprint) as/alongside such outfits as State Champion, Tropical Trash, Equipment Pointed Ankh, Roadhouse, and others, "Dancing On The Edge" -- a seven song, 53 minute basement folk opus -- is the first collection of material released under Kentuckiana-based visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ryan Davis' birth name.
The tunes on the album range from bare-boned, achingly crooned avant-folk tales to jovial, full-band excursions into long-form experimental country-tinged rock modes. Continuing in the tradition of the TVZs, Terry Allens, Souled Americans, and DC Bermans before him, this 2xLP reimagines the exceedingly dated archetype of modern day "indie troubadour" music and the inherent trappings therein.
Davis' solo debut is a dense collection of Americana-Noir that navigates a familiar yet alternate reality, one of enchanted mundanity and uniquely mid-southern introspection. Simultaneously anti-social and outwardly inviting, free of cynicism yet slightly steeped in paranoia, "Dancing On The Edge" is as delicately choreographed and emotionally connective as it is, at times, absurd.
Featuring performances from friends like Joan Shelley, Catherine Irwin (Freakwater), Will Lawrence (Felice Brothers, Gun Outfit), all fellow members of Kentucky-based ensemble Equipment Pointed Ankh, & more."
