DISClaimer Single Reviews: Dalton Dover Delivers 'Romping, Stomping Honky Tonker'

Dalton Dover. Photo Credit: Jim Wright

Baby acts rule the roost in today’s DISClaimer.

Leading the way is DISCovery Award winner Dasha. Riding alongside her are label mates Matt Schuster and Gabby Barrett, both of whom also turned in outstanding work this week.

Ernest, Luke Dick and Koe Wetzel are ear-tickling, too. So is our Disc of the Day winner, Dalton Dover. Listen and believe.

RICK MONROE & THE HITMEN / “Six Gun Soul”
Writers: Alan Beeler/Rick Monroe; Producer: Malcolm Springer; Label: The Label Group
– The title tune of Monroe’s new LP (yes, it’s on vinyl) is a minor-key outlaw warning. If you knock him down, you better knock him out because he’s a rugged survivor. The band conjures a dark mood, and his tenor voice wails.

GABBY BARRETT / “Dance Like No One’s Watching”
Writers: Emily Weisband/James McNair/Luke Combs; Producers: Gabby Barrett/Ross Copperman; Label: Warner Music Nashville
– It’s a slow waltz with terrific male chorus harmony courtesy of Luke Combs. She carries the advice of her father with her as she journeys through life. Hold on for the heart-tugging, wedding-dance third verse. For more on this theme, revisit the 1989 Kathy Mattea No. 1 hit “Come From the Heart,” penned by Susanna Clark & Richard Leigh.

LUKE DICK / “Shirt Off My Back”
Writers: Luke Dick/Chris DuBois/Jason Lehning; Producers: Luke Dick/Jason Lehning; Label: Virgin
– This is an autobiographical stomper with hushed verses alternating with shouted choruses. As is always the case with this songwriter, the lyric and the entire approach are both wildly creative. Like the song instructs, “Clap hands.”

DYLAN SCOTT / “What He’ll Never Have”
Writers: Dylan Scott/Logan Robinson/Ricky Rowton/Robbie Gatlin; Producer: Joe Fox; Label: Curb Records
– Whatever any new man in her life might have, he won’t have “the love that I have for you,” Scott avers in this somewhat loudly produced country rocker. Notch another surefire hit, buddy.

DASHA / “Austin”
Writers: Adam Wendler/Anna Dasha Novotny/Cheyenne Rose Arnspiger/Kenneth Travis Heidelman; Producer: Travis Heidelman; Label: Warner Records
– What a disc debut. This is insanely catchy with EDM beats and her saucy vocal telling the tale of a gal who gets left high and dry, waiting for him to take her away. She’ll get along without him, but “In 40 years, you’ll still be here, drunk, washed up in Austin.” It comes as no surprise to learn that the feisty toe-tapper has a line dance.

ERNEST & JELLY ROLL / “I Went To College, I Went To Jail”
Writers: Chandler Paul Walters/Ernest Keith Smith/Luke Bryan/Rivers Rutherford; Producer: Joey Moi; Label: Big Loud Records
– The “Flower Shops” man is back with a 26-track sophomore album titled Nashville, Tennessee. The singer-songwriter teams up with fellow native Nashvillian Jelly Roll on this honky-tonking, rumbling twang fest. They swap lines adroitly, describing their wayward journeys on the way to Music Row. Heartily recommended.

ANGEL WHITE / “Outlaw”
Writers: Dwight A. Baker/Khalil Hall; Producer: Dwight A. Baker; Label: Wyatt Road Records
– He’s a fifth-generation Black Texas cowboy. His single is a guitar-vocal performance with a bluesy slow groove. The ballad showcases his expressive voice. It’s quite promising, but next time, I’d hire a band and a producer.

MATT SCHUSTER / “Thought You Were”
Writers: Adam Yaron/Andrew Stoelzing/Emily Falvey/Matt Schuster; Producer: Adam Yaron; Label: Warner Music Nashville
– It turns out that she wasn’t the gal for him, after all. The heartache piano ballad is lovely on every level, but most especially in his strikingly soulful vocal performance. There’s something special at work here. I remain a fan.

DALTON DOVER / “Bury Me In This Bar”
Writers: Benjy Davis/Dalton Dover/Dan Isbell/Jamie Davis; Producer: Matthew McVaney; Label: Mercury Nashville
– Dover continues his winning ways with this romping, stomping honky tonker with flourishes of steel and galloping rhythm. Thirsty for real country music? Belly up to this bar. You need the song on your playlist, now more than ever.

MAGGIE ROSE / “Fake Flowers”
Writers: Charles Harmon/Claude Kelly/Margaret Rose Durante; Producer: Ben Tanner; Label: Big Loud Records
– Rose is a fiery, ferocious singer who is working in a nouveau-soul style in Music City. This torrid, blues-soaked outing blazes with anger and passion. Rock on, sister.

KOE WETZEL / “Damn Near Normal”
Writers: Amy Allen/Sam Harris/Carrie Karpinen/Gabe Simon/Ropyr Wetzel; Producers: Gabe Simon/Carrie Karpinen; Label: Columbia
– He’s living in squalor and knows his lifestyle isn’t healthy. It’s a good song and a good performance, but the electric guitar churning drowns out the lyric about half of the time. Remix this.

DAVID NAIL / “If I Could Call”
Writer: David Nail; Producer: Reed Pittman; Label: One Five Sound
– We all must deal with grief. Nail muses about the loss of his beloved grandfather, wishing he could have one more phone conversation with him. He yearns for the comfort of the man he’s lost, but knows that everything’s really okay because his own son, named for the granddad, is near him. An accompanying string section sighs along softly.