Concerts: Denny offers a feast of Age Old Hunger

By Jack Hill

LITTLE ROCK — Maybe singer-songwriters would call what motivates them an age-old hunger to make a recording. At least one, Little Rock's Christopher Denny, has done so, and he named his debut CD Age Old Hunger.

Now for the parties, to mark the occasion. One isn't enough sometimes, so Denny is just making it a weekend shindig, with shows tonight and Saturday night at central Arkansas' venerable nightspot, the White Water Tavern.

Denny, who has a voice far more unusual than your run-of-the-mill singer, might find himself compared with Texas legend Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Those with a taste for the obscure might even be reminded of the voice of David Surkamp, the lead singer in Pavlov's Dog, a mid-1970s St. Louis progressive rock group.

Denny, 23, was born in Little Rock and grew up in North Little Rock. His label's biography reveals that he has "battled addiction, served time in jail and faced abandonment at an early age." He recorded and produced his album at Sellout Music in Little Rock in three days, mostly live with few additional takes. Engineering and recording was by Jason Weinheimer of The Boondogs. Album credits indicate noted central Arkansas musicians Michael Goodrich and David Jukes are Denny's "hometown musical inspirations."

Songs on the album include nine original Denny compositions, and cover versions of Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone" and "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)."

"I did the Johnny Cash song for my father, who I haven't always gotten along with," Denny explains. "And I always had wanted to sing with Johnny, but can't hope for that anymore. Now maybe one day I can sing with Willie Nelson. The [Kris] Kristofferson song I chose because it's one of my favorite songs ever written, and I didn't think it had ever been sung with the emotions of the words, so I stripped it down as my ode to Kris."

Denny has heard some of the comments that his unusual singing voice have provoked, but hopes that music fans will have the same attitude he does regarding musicians.

"A couple of my favorite singers now were guys I hated at first," he confesses. "Jeff Buckley, for one, at first I hated his sound, but after two days, I wanted to be him. And Tom Waits, he has grown on me slower than Jeff did."

The album's oldest song, "Time," was written when he was 17 or 18, Denny recalls. His early influences, he says, are no longer what he values.

"I feel like I was born into a Lynyrd Skynyrd family, but I'm making my way into a Neil Young family. I'm still trying to figure out why people in the South don't love Creedence more. I think for John Fogerty, writing hits was like brushing his teeth. Creedence and The Band, those two, were probably my favorite groups."

Denny got a guitar when he was 14 or 15 and noticed thathe could play and sing at the same time. A couple of years later, he figured out he could add the harmonica to his list of musical things he could do as he sang and played.

"I first came to love harmonica listening to Woody Guthrie and Howlin' Wolf, who had opposite styles," Denny explains. "There was the goofiness of Woody and the intense scariness of Wolf. Then I got into Neil Young, who's somewhere else, not in between, but totally different, and has the best melody on harmonica I've ever heard. It's just absurd.And between Woody and Wolf there's Bob Dylan."

The Denny CD was released Aug. 7 by 00:02:59 Records, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., and also home to Willie Nile, Matthew Ryan, Tandy and a compilation, The Sandinista Project: A Tribute to The Clash. Denny began his touring this month with shows at five bars in New York and at two Brooklyn clubs. On his way back to Little Rock, he detoured to Northwest Arkansas for a show at The Gypsy in Fayetteville.

The Old Soles, Denny's backing band, consists of Chris Atwood on bass and Marcus Lowe on drums. Denny plays guitar and harmonica. Joining him this weekend will be Justin Carr on rhythm guitar. Canadian organ and piano player Robbie Crowell, who plays on the CD, will travel to Little Rock to also join the fun.

"I want to make sure the folks who know me all have a chance to see us," Denny notes, "so tonight's show will be a later one than Saturday night's. Mike Ferrio, of the band Tandy, also on my label, will open for us [tonight], and sit in with us Saturday night. I know there are people who don't like to stay up really late."

In case no one knows that the White Water is a special place for him, Denny also reveals that he will be getting married Sept. 2 to Mary Catherine Ferguson, who was one of the three partners who took over the club months ago.

CHRISTOPHER DENNY

10 p.m. today, 9 p.m. Saturday,

White Water Tavern, West Sev

enth and Thayer streets, Little

Rock

Opening act: Mike Ferrio tonight;

none Saturday

Admission: $5

(501) 375-8400

Weekend, Pages 71 on 08/24/2007