The 5 Spot Nashville, TN
Contact: [email protected]
Web: facebook.com/danny.himes57
Players: Danny Himes, acoustic guitar, vocals; C.H. McCoy, keyboards
Dip your toe into the World Wide Web and Google Danny Himes. Curiously, you won’t find much about this alternative folk and indie Americana artist. He doesn’t have a website or even a Bandcamp page, although he is locatable on Facebook. His LinkedIn page indicates he runs a music management and production company, Dirty Rollin Productions, and he’s uploaded a smattering of tunes to Apple Music, but that’s about all you’ll find.
Even without taking a listen, you’re bound to guess that Himes isn’t attuned to the promotional aspects of building a career. Beyond not having a team or much of an online presence, Himes does nothing to sell his songs or himself as a performer while on stage. By way of launching his set, he merely announces, “I’m Danny Himes,” names the song he’s about to play (“Homage”), and then rushes into the tune. Each subsequent number is treated similarly, merely calling out the title before its performance. Throughout, he continually looks down, as though trying to avoid any form of eye contact. One would expect more audience interaction when there’s a crowd so small you could count every attendee on one hand.
All this is unfortunate, as Himes embodies numerous exceptional artistic qualities. His unique compositions are haunting and arresting in equal measure. Vocally, Himes comes across as a modern day Cat Stevens or Jim Croce with a slight country & western bent. “Las Vegas” was the most countrified tune; it nicely conjures images of nights filled with debauchery and fortunes lost due to a single roll of the dice. Accompanying the evening’s six songs was C.H. McCoy, whose keyboard magic added welcome color to Himes’ brooding think pieces.
Mr. Himes remains a considerable talent, and his music has the potential to trigger true emotion in listeners. However, his voice is unlikely to spread far unless he puts effort into some form of public outreach. Prefacing songs with brief origin stories and thanking everyone for coming out, for example, would do much to bolster his image and draw a wider fan base.
