John David Kent’s Self-Titled CD is Loaded With Great Songs

I first met John David Kent in 2011. My first impression of him was that his long-haired, bearded, rough appearance could easily have him mistaken for an extra in the movie "Young Guns". When we met, Kent was promoting his radio single, "My Girl", that would be appearing on his self-titled CD several months later.

While John David Kent has been in the music industry on and off for several years, this is his first solo work. He boasts that his sound is "Waylon meets Credence Clearwater Revival". That's pretty close, but from the first listen, it's obvious that Kent has plenty more influences to draw from. His debut CD is loaded with variety, some clearly influenced and some very unique. "My Girl", for instance, falls on the "unique" side. It's an upbeat love song with a redneck twist. It saw its share of radio play on the regional level, and its video got national exposure as the CMT "Pick Of The Week" a while back.

"Down To The Water" has strong harmonies that anyone can sing along to and a cool combination of Alabama and The Doobie Brothers feel. "In The Promise Land" features John David Kent on piano, soulful southern rock guitar from Michael Graska, and a terrific Jason Andrew fiddle solo. It's a song that will have you swaying back and forth, eyes closed in your seat as the true emotion of the song takes you away.

"Runaway" the latest single, is a great radio song. It's catchy, upbeat, and listeners can easily relate. It's already a top 20 song and climbing on the Texas Music Chart. But I think this song speaks to the great ability John David Kent has to appeal to a massive audience.

So many of the 15 songs on this CD are really good. It's loaded with great catchy lyrics, top notch musicians, and a unique, soulful lead singer who is old enough to confidently know what he's doing and young enough to do it with great passion and style. Simply put, John David Kent "gets it". When I listen to his CD, I'm overcome with the feeling that I'm listening to the beginning of a long, illustrious career. (For the record, I have reserved this gut instinct for a rare few, including Whiskey Myers, Cody Johnson and not many more). Time will tell.

Releasing his solo CD wasn't done on a whim, and wasn't put together as quickly as possible, despite the fact that Kent has the ability to play just about every instrument on the album. No, according to John David, making this CD was as much a practice in patience and proper timing as it was in writing the songs.

John David Kent has been doing laps around Texas to promote it, and fans have begun gathering around to hear the gritty, rootsy, southern rock/outlaw country/americana artist belt out songs from his debut CD and beyond. The recognition is well deserved, and would appear to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Here's John David Kent's video for "My Girl", which managed to make its way onto CMT