Dave Hause has been kicking around the Philly music scene for the past 14 years performing a variety of music under multiple monikers, but he really seems to have hit his stride with last year’s album, Bury Me in Philly. The album, his third solo recording in six years, features the kind of folk rockin’ Americana sound, and love of the common man lyrics that are faintly reminiscent of a young musician from Asbury Park, New Jersey. I know, I know, that’s a bold claim to make, but it’s a comparison I just couldn’t shake the night I saw Dave and his current band, The Mermaid perform live at the Black Cat in the thankless number two spot on a triple bill. Like the guy from Jersey, Hause delivers a contagiously energetic, hard-working, no frills performance dressed in blue jeans and rolled up shirt sleeves. The music rocks and the impassioned lyrics matter. Dave grins and works the crowd tirelessly: that will teach you slackers to turn up fashionably late just to see the headlining band!
For me, the interesting thing about Bury Me in Philly is that initially, nothing really stood out and then… everything seemed to stand out. Repeated listening soon yielded greater appreciation for the simple beauty in Hause’s poetic lyrics and the straight-ahead rock n’ roll music that delivers them to your head, your heart and your feet. Indeed, that’s what makes “Divine Lorraine” one of my favorite songs of 2017 and The Happy Medium Song of the Day.
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