Colorado-based artist David Starr crafts a bluesy rock immersion throughout his new album Must Be Blue, available now via Quarto Valley Records. Showcasing a mixture of original and cover songs, the release represents Starr’s first full-length blues album. Additional collaborators on various tracks including backing vocals from John Oates, while standout track “My Favorite Color” features standout guitar work from Jeff King, wth Erik Stucky adding his talents on mandolin

Debonair guitar twangs and a warming backing organ commence the album with the original track “Hole In The Page,” which contemplates a now-defunct relationship that saw its share of good and bad days. “There’s a hole in the page, where your name used to be,” Starr’s sweltering vocals let out, capped off by a delectable guitar solo at mid-point. The bluesy fervency and all-out emotion is palpable. An open-road feeling emanates on the ensuing cover of J. J. Cale’s “Bringin’ It Back,” which melds suave rockabilly-feeling verses with confident vocal stylings and fleeting bursts of guitars. Must Be Blue gets started with a very strong one-two punch, and the quality songwriting continues consistently thereafter.

Another riveting example of Starr’s original songwriting, “My Favorite Color” moves with a climactic, gradual structural unveiling. Acoustics and mandolin gear into chugging electric guitars and introspective vocals, admitting “sometimes there’s nothing left to say,” before a brighter “cross my heart,” harmonious hook. “My favorite color must be blue,” the vocals then exude, conveying the album title with apt poignancy. Must Be Blue showcases an abundance of captivating performances and immersive songwriting.

“Whatever the reason, playing blues-influenced songs always centers me in a way that no other music does,” Starr explains. “When I moved to the mountains of Colorado, my influences expanded to Americana and roots, and acoustic guitar became a muse of its own. This album is my version of a blues record, what you might call ‘Bluesicana’ – the grooves and electrics are there, but so is a mandolin. Call it coming home, full circle.”

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“Hole In The Page” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.

We discovered this release via MusoSoup.

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