Having
been on the road for nearly a decade, David Dondero has been
spreading his version of ‘American Folk Music’ all
over the land. Dondero pulls from the conversations of strangers
and transforms them into stories with sweet melodies and
raw, roots guitar, which lift up his un-apologetic vocals.
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Having
previously been the lead vocalist for Sunbrain (Grass Records).
David Dondero’s Shooting at the Sun with a Water Gun
is his sixth release since 1993, and, to date, his most accessible.
Dondero lets you peek into the lives and situations of strangers while
connecting it to his own life experiences. The first song, “If
You Break My Heart,” tells about the finality of love, and how
we should be responsible for the affect we have on others. “You
break my heart, you pay for it. You break my heart...you bought it.” With
catchy, standard guitar and harmonized vocals, Dondero asks: “How
you gonna pay for this one?”
“Rosary” is a beautiful song, almost anthem like. You can see yourself
singing loud and passionately at a live show while clapping your hands to the
down tempo melody. It encapsulates the need for relief of pain in ones heart. “Help
me, nothing is healing me, say the rosary, say it once for me.”
“The World is Not My Home” and “Analysis of a 1970’s
Divorce” are without question the most intimate and revealing tracks on
this album. “This World is not My Home” sings of a life beyond this
one. He describes his knowledge of a Heaven and how hard it is to find your place
when you’re stuck in a world like this. “Analysis of a 1970’s
Divorce” takes a lot of us down a road all too familiar. Dondero lays out
his own life experience for us all to witness. With female backups, the sweetness
of this tune becomes brutally descriptive. It’s like reading someone’s
diary... “Sometimes I feel like a product of a loveless interaction, and
I feel my heart was swallowed somewhere in the last transaction.” The honesty
will give you Goosebumps. The simplicity of David Dondero’s music allows
the listener to feel it all.
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