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Austin American-Statesman Review -- Download
GORDY QUIST, A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
There's a new gunslinger in town. Gordy Quist's weapons of choice are not
flaming guitars or an oversized attitude, but rather an authentic voice
and adept songwriting. During last week's dalliance at the Saxon Pub, Quist,
who is moving from the Houston area to Austin, played a few funky tunes
with members of his sometime band, the Lucky Southerns, then peeled off
some blues.
It's his country/folk solo persona, however, that's winning new admirers.
Quist sings about daddies, heartbreak, hard work, drinking and the usual
subjects, but he veers just this side of cliché, making the ordinary worth
a second or third listen: "Can you hear it in my hands/I'm at work but I
pretend/I'm on the porch as daylight fades/'Cause that's the way it used
to be/When the songs played me."
Quist follows along the well-limned lines of Townes van Zandt and Robert
Earl Keen, but his occasionally awkward lyrics live comfortably inside their
own truths. His guitar work is not showy and his stage persona could use
some burnishing, but that will likely come. He's a honest talent in the
making. As the stranger on the next bar stool said, "He sounds like home."
(Quist launches his CD "Songs Play Me" at the Saxon Pub Oct. 22.)
-- Michael Barnes
