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MUSIC - David Gerald - Guitar, Vocals, Bandleader, Songwriter and Producer

REVIEWS   -   VIDEOS


David is a blues guitarist. He is originally from Detroit, Michigan. Growing up in the "Motor City" and the home of Motown, meant that he was surrounded by the soulful sounds of R&B and the Blues. After many years of listening, at age 16, he began to learn to play the guitar. He attributed his interest to the musical influence of Prince and other 80’s rock guitarists. In Motown, the sound is soul and R&B, but somewhere along his path, David says "He rediscovered the blues" and began listened more seriously to the music of Albert King, ZZ Hill, B.B. King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Through the benevolence of a local musician, David says “I was lucky enough to have a neighbor who was a guitarist and gave me scrap guitars. I would piece them together and build 'Frankenstein' guitars.” About the guitars, he said “They were horrible to play and sounded bad, but I had to play music. It was and is my destiny. I finally scraped up enough money to buy an old amp, and I was happy.”

David dedicated himself to his music by learning to play the guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. He began to record his music and then overdub it using old cassette recorders. He said, “The end result sounded horrible, and the songs would not end up in the same key they started in. But it got my songs recorded.”

In the 80's David composed rock and pop tunes. At age 24, he began writing and composing tunes with the help of a computer program, and has continued to write and compose to this day. In 2009, David released his first album "Hell and Back" (CD Baby) containing 5 of his original tunes and a selection of cover tunes previously recorded by Blues greats. The "Thrill is Gone", "Red House" and "Cold Shot", and the other cover tunes were recorded live at J. Dubs bar in Riverview, Michigan. David can be seen and heard playing at growing number of clubs and festivals across the U.S.

REVIEWS and what people are saying...:

Hell and Back - David Gerald Band

"Detroit area guitarist, David Gerald, grew up with the sounds of Prince and the 80's rock guitarists as his first influences, then discovered the blues through Albert King, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jimi Hendrix and all of these influences can be heard easily on this disc. He assimilated his influences and transformed them into a David Gerald sound, which is a ferocious sounding Blues music that leans heavily on Rock and R & B. He started playing when he was 16 and felt the drawn to play music so much so that though he was poor and couldn't afford a guitar, he would piece his neighbor's scrap guitars, that were donated to the budding musician, piece them together to build various bastard "Frankenstein" guitars. You got to do what you got to do I guess, but his persistence paid off."    ~ A review written for the Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange by Bob Gottlieb

"This ten-song CD captures Gerald both live and in the studio. The live tracks tend to be more raucous and over-the-top. Also, the live stuff is all cover material. “I’ll Play The Blues For You,“ Thrill Is Gone,“ “She Caught The Katy,“ “Cold Shot,“ and “ Red House” are all covered here by Gerald and his band. The Albert King cover nods both the King and his best disciple, SRV. “Thrill Is Gone” starts out as a subtle B.B. version with keys playing the part of the string section but blasts off about halfway into it with Gerald’s Stratrotechnics (my term). The crowd eats it up. “She Caught The Katy” is treated to an up-tempo and pleasant modernization."   ~ David Stine - Byron Crossroads Blues Festival
"Forty-something Detroit-based guitarist and singer David Gerald deals firmly in the soul-blues camp, playing guitar since aged 16 and influence by Prince, and later the music of the likes of Albert King, ZZ Hill, BB King and more. On “Hell And Back” he mixes studio recorded originals with some live blues standards – with the studio tracks recorded, mixed and produced by himself."    ~ bluesinthenorthwest.com (3rd review on page)
"Opening up for Albert Castiglia on Saturday night at the Amelia Island Blues Fest is Detroit born David Gerald, who’s Blues roots anchor deep into the Mississippi Delta. When I first heard David Gerald back in January I was not hearing someone just doing good copies of standard blues songs like I’ll play the blues for you or the Thrill is Gone. I was hearing someone who was feeling the emotion of the songs. It was like I was hearing the songs for the first time."    ~ Johan - Amelia Island Blues Festival

VIDEOS:

David Gerald performing at J. Dubs - She Caught the Katy
David Gerald - Voodoo Child

David Gerald performing at J. Dubs - I'll Play the Blues For You