| Springfed Arts |
PRESS
Photo by Michael Spleet
Reviews of Feel That • John D. Lamb, winner of the 2007 Detroit Music Award
for Outstanding Acoustic/Folk Recording:
There’s a great song on this album that we heard for the first time at last
summer’s Blissfest: “Look Out for Deer,” about a downstater in his four-wheel
drive “comin’ round Boyne Mountain” on his way north. Lamb nails the exhilaration
of the Up North experience as the driver in his song heads for the ski slopes
and the good times, while wary of the whitetails on the road.
Although Lamb hangs his hat in Royal Oak, he’s a frequent performer in the
Little Traverse area throughout the summer, bringing a touch of Midwestern
folk-rock to the region. Lamb writes thoughtful songs with a wry touch --
he’s a thinking person’s songwriter. You get the impression that “keeping
it real” is more important to him than polishing every nuance, and he’s got
a crack band backing him up that would do Lucinda Williams proud. With a
laid-back, made-in-Detroit drawl, his voice and lyrics invite comparisons
to populist songwriters ranging from Mellencamp to Steve Earle, with roots
buried in the heart of the country.
Robert Downes, Northern Express Weekly, Traverse City, MI 5/10-07
Here's a computer translation of a review from an altcountry
website in the Netherlands:
I’d rather be miserable with you / Than simply happy with someone new.
If that is no beautiful love declaration. To find on Feel That of John D.
Lamb. This Michigan originating tale narrator took ten years off to give
continuation from his 1996 debut A Novel Day. I do not know that first plate,
but Feel That are in every way worth it. Lamb knows with few words the correct
things to say. If this is a joke/ I don’t want to hear the punch line, in
a song concerning a love which is concluded. With a fraaie voice such as
John D. Lamb gladly hear you it, this type songs concerning love. That voice,
in this hears you something of Neil Diamond, Garland Jeffreys and Richard
Thompson. Toch Lamb, which studied journalism, in the first place songschrijver,
are. Beside its occupations as executive artist he also gladly transmits
that knowledge on others. He stimulates young artists by organizing show
cases and meets monthly with other writers to inspire each other. On Feel
That kindest three gitaristen are hear, among which have died in January
brother Sal D Agnillo. A short speelduur (32 minutes), but really a must.
Reviewer John Gjaltema gave it 4 out of 5 horses.
Creative entrepreneur juggles his priorities — Detroit News
August 2, 2005
Artist of the
week, Detroit News
Singer-songwriter John D. Lamb has spent most of his
life in Michigan, but he writes songs as if he's spent his whole life
on the road - which, I suppose, isn't surprising considering his busy
touring schedule. A tireless performer, Lamb spends quite a bit of time
trekking around the state and nearby areas, continuously winning new
fans with his brand of Midwestern roots rock. His brand-new CD "A Novel
Day" (Schoolkids' Records) demonstrates Lamb's finesse with simple, evocative
and catchy songcrafting. The songs range from quiet meditations on broken
relationships ("You Threw Me") and deferred dreams ("Matador") to bouncy,
countrified pop ("I Want You Bad," "Don't Sound Sound") and straight-up
roots rock ("Comin' Undone"). His songs speak with a Hemingwayesque world-weary
romanticism, particularly in "Matador," which is something of an informal
tribute to Papa.
Lisa Wexton/Metro Times
Detroit Free Press/Wednesday, January 24. 1996 Feature
Page/Bob Talbert
Ex-grocery packer Lamb out with hot CD
Music on my mind today...
...A new Schoolkids' Records CD, "A Novel Day," by singer-guitarist
John D. Lamb of Royal Oak, arrived with a letter from Lamb: "I never
did thank you fore asking me to 'take a bow' for my 'Ferndale Tonight'
variety show a couple of years ago. Thanks. I graduated from Farmington
Harrison High in '76 just ahead of your daughter, Dafna, and often ran
into her in the music department. My real name is D'Agnillo - translated:
'of Lamb.' "Packed your groceries a couple times at what used to be Chatham
Supermarket. I was a journalism major at CMU and gave it up when I realized
how much work it would take to land a regular column like yours. I've
been reading you daily for over 20 years and have longed to present you
with something worthy of mention. Well, here it is."
Worthy of mention? More than that, John. I'd been waiting
for that CD. Your long history of playing 200 shows a year throughout
Michigan and Ohio has built a great following.
I've heard from your fans about your great show, the wide variety of
folk, country and rock, and the great original storytelling songs you
write and sing. I was primed. And I wasn't disappointed.
I love "A Novel Day" - every cut. So do a lot of people with ears
I respect. Just got a note from noted psychic-musician
Bob Thibodeau of Mayflower metaphysical Bookshop in Berkley:
"John D. Lamb's 'A Novel Day' produced by Michael King. Here's an album
you'll like immediately, and it will grow on you the more you listen
to it. Easy listening, beautiful arrangements and love tunes, rock-a-billy
country-western bop, slow Tex-Mex matador ballad, upbeat, downbeat, slow
and steady songs with meaning and purpose you can listen closely to or
let play in the background. Lamb is another John Hiatt in the birthing!
Any live audience will testify to that."
Lamb's CD was recorded at the Tempermill in Ferndale and Mission Studio
in Birmingham with some of the best musicians in town: Bugs Beddow, Michele
Ramo, Larry Frantangelo, Susan Calloway, Kathy Kosins, Doug Koernke,
James Rasmussen, Stephen Grant Wood, Michael King, Peter A. Soave, Lance
Larson, Chris Codish and Sal D'Agnillo.
The CD is available at Harmony House, Repeat the Beat, Record World and Schoolkids' Records. Many cuts from it deserve local and national airplay. Hope that happens when it's released nationally Feb. 5. When Lamb's really big, I'm going to tell folks I knew right off that he would be a star from the way he packed my groceries with such rhythm.
Reviews for A Novel Day:
After years on the local scene as singer-songwriter and television show
host, John D. Lamb steps out with his first CD offering. This Collection
showcases what Lamb has been offering his audiences for years now: solid
guitar rock wrapped in country and R&B that deliver his words directly,
without a great deal of adornment. It's a less-is-more approach that
serves him well.
Lamb is a rock storyteller who weaves his fables from the stuff of everyday life. He fills his tales with characters you know and have probably been at one time or another. And as we all know, in these lives of great ordinariness, extraordinary things happen, or are at least dreamt about.
Lamb's strength as a writer lies in his ability to distill relationships to their bare essence. On the discs' opener, "You Threw Me," as an acoustic wash of stringed instruments weaves an atmospheric country tapestry, Lamb sings "I'm searching for the girl I admire/Falling back on my wicked ways/I'm burning with misguided desire/before I leave I've got to say/The way we kiss, I could've sworn we had some fusion/Love was bliss, your love for me was all an illusion." He wrestles with the question, yet he already has the answer when he returns (in the next verse) to the woman he loves for forgiveness. He cops to everything as Kathy Kosins' voice shores up his courage to ask for another chance, and Michael King's electric lead underlines his guilt and misery.
Other tracks are jangling rockers. "Don't Make Me Laugh" contains perhaps the record's greatest verse: "Sing for your supper, suffer the fools/Love one another , and follow the rules/You don't roll over/You can't be through/Don't make me laugh so soon." As the backing vocals and lead guitar wind through and float above the mix, Lamb spins a tale of love and woe full of true irony and forlorn humor.
...Lamb has given us a slice of life in which we find
common ground, but is anything but commonplace.
Thom Jurek, Metro Times Detroit, Michigan
The Oakland Press/Sunday February 11 1996
The Listening Room ***
John D. Lamb's resonant voice and upbeat tempos grow more appealing
with each listening of this new recording. His songs have the kind of
down-home flavor, familiarity and humor reminiscent of Larry McMurtry.
Even his love songs are delivered with a wink, as in "Che Penzi?," where
he laments, "How do you keep your grades so stable/When you drink me
under the table." In the past few years, Lamb has built a fan base around
Michigan and Ohio, even among area musicians, some of whom appear on
this record. ...The sound is easy going country with slide guitars, chiming
instrumentation and arrangements as inviting as a swinging door.
Nicole M. Robertson/The Oakland Press
The Delta Collegiate/March 25 1996
...John D. Lamb out of Royal Oak borrows from many influences on his
debut, "A Novel Day." The cascade of sounds illuminate every track as
individual moody works of art. A truly positive and moving record.
Scott Baker/Entertainment Editor