A musical journey of original classic folk rock from Athens, Georgia to Austin Texas, where the lyrics are as real as late fees and choruses immediately captivate and excite as if just having seen the face of a long lost friend.

7 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk-Rock, ROCK: Americana

Details:
David Ballou is a singer/songwriter who recently moved to Austin Texas from Atlanta and is relatively new to the music scene. He was born on Long Island ( Glen Cove ) New York, but was also raised in Kittery Maine, Newport News Virginia, Silver Springs Maryland , back to Kittery Maine, and finally Athens, Georgia where he went to high school for four years and another four at the University of Georgia - Athens.

David considers his music to be of the folk rock type, for the most part. His songs take the listener on musical journeys into his past and present. The lyrics are mostly non-fictional, punctual, and easy to relate to. His choruses immediately captivate and excite as if just having seen the face of a long lost friend in a festival crowd of thousands.

According to David " I have always been emotionally moved by music and wanted to be a part of it for the longest time. " David's musical influences include Bob Dylan, Jimmy Webb, ,John Hiatt, CCR and REM.

David started playing and writing late in life." I bought my first guitar out of a guys trunk at a post graduation party. It was the worst electric guitar in the world and painful to play ( but I didn't know that at the time. ) It was only forty dollars and somehow I had the cash. At my first real job, after only a couple months , I was " shipped off to Siberia " - a newly opened, one man operated chemical warehouse in the northern suburbs of Atlanta ( and it was in the dead winter.) I had maybe three or four customers all day that winter and would mostly sit around reading Steven King books and play my electric guitar ( thank god for The Stand - all seven hundred pages. )

David says he " flunked out of the corporate world " after only a few years mainly because it wasn't for him. " I was mesmerized by music and especially REM ( also from Athens ) and everything else seemed illusional and unnecessary (" but not according to Georgia Power and Gas Company ." )

On writing Southern Central Train - " While in my mid twenties, I quit a corporate job in Baton Rouge.I just wasn't happy, after sleeping in hotel rooms in small towns across Louisiana and Mississippi for two years.I moved back to Atlanta completely lost. I lived in a dingy effeciency near Emory University and had no phone or tv and was incommunicado with the outside world. A train ran nearby nightly, and hearing the whistle late at night gave me some peace and solace. About five years ago, without consciousely thinking about that time in my life and the train , I picked up my guitar before going to bed one night. I told myself I would play for ten seconds and if nothing came out - I was going to sleep."

This recording, Ineligible For Rehire, was recorded live at Hanover's in Austin and has two of Austin's finest musicians accompanying David. " Jessie Ellis is one of the best guitar players i've ever heard, along with my good friend George Tankov back home in Georgia. Also included are two studio recordings.

Ineligible for rehire recorded live at Hanover's - Austin, Texas.
All lyrics and music - David Ballou
David Ballou - vocals and rhythm guitar
Jessie Ellis - lead guitar
Jackie Davis - drums
Chris - soundman

Thanks to Raz Khandpur for mastering and Jesse Kellogg for graphics/artwork, at Affordable Sound - Austin,TX
Also Julie Chapman for cover photo.

This recording is dedicated to my nephew Jack " the giant killer " Breedlove.

People who are interested in Bob Dylan R.E.M. Ryan Adams should consider this download.