Early RP favorite for me.
Doubt the link from the 21 year old post works

So cheers to you  Val

From reading the lyrics after landing here via the ol' psd tab, this could well be Sen. TRUSTed Cruz's theme song.  It seems to anticipate his special brand of acumen and integrity. And is equally suitable to that other pol from roundabout Howston Hewston, W something. 

 

yea!  something completely new to me.  and i like it.
<i hope i soon find the need to make a macro of this comment> 

i like this

 Hannio wrote: 
Nice photo - I've been to enchanted rock as well!

Beautiful, Val.  Looking forward to the release!

 vald wrote: 

I am here!

Thank you to all of you who take an interest in my and my music.

I don't have much (any) free time so I don't find myself perusing the music pages much anymore. 

I am working as the operations manager at our local radio station (Magic 97.7) and I literally work 60 or 70 hours per week so it doesn't leave much time for anything else.

My kids are growing up.  My daughter Mira who did the batik artwork for Immortal is now living in Germany.  Max is 17 and will graduate next year, Jasper is 16, Val Jr. is 14 and our baby Elissa will be 10 in Jan.

My wife Dona is doing wedding photography and is very good at it: https://www.donadavis.com

Apart from working constantly, I am happy and hopeful as more music has been emerging from me in my down moments.

I do have my studio setup and I have been working on some tracks for another record.  I have a rough up of a tune call "You Play The Game".  This is very rough, but I would love any comments.

https://www.valdavis.com/playthegame2.mp3

Again, thank you all for your caring and interest.

Val

Cynaera wrote: 

Antigone - his last journal entry was in 2008.  I think it would be wonderful if he could pop in and give us an update. Meanwhile, I really love everything I've heard from "Immortal," and oh, lookie!  He's at Amazon.com!!!!

 Antigone wrote: 
And again.

Hi Val!

 kmonahan wrote: 
Rather the other Genesis guy IMO (shudder)

 drictor wrote: 

 That_SOB wrote: 

Yeah, my thoughts as well!

Sounds a bit like Peter Gabriel's voice

 zevon wrote: 

 Even some of the guitar licks are Stills like... Sounds like Steve Stills covering Steve Stills. . . a toast to both of them

Hey there, not bad"!

Anyone hear from Val lately? Hope he's doing good.

Hi Val!

 sans wrote: 

I also thought it was Crosby at first. Not bad..

 Giselle62 wrote: 

my first thought was "wow. a CSN song i've never heard before"...

i like the way this sounds—-reminds me of David Crosby a bit.

I've been sitting like an Island
Comfortably curled up inside
I've been looking but not finding things
That will make me satisfied
I'm a master of my own mind games
What I don't ike I push aside
I've complete control ore' my domain
I create these special lies

If you're looking to find me
Well I fear it's much to late
For I'm lost here in these woods my dear
And they've closed and locked the gate
And sometimes for a moment
I think I can see the sky
In the sky's my freedom
For it's there that I can fly

In the Texas Sky

So if you find you're sitting
On an island of your own
You're sitting back just watching
As the clouds gently roam
And if by chance you recognize
Some special cloud you see
Don't fantasize just realize
That friendly cloud is me

Texas sky from near the top of Enchanted Rock.

why did they ruin a perfectly good batik by laying myriad on it?

Nice to hear something positive about Texas for a change.  This song has a very
nice mix of influences. 

Just went and bought this album from iTunes. Really nice vibe!
Okay Bill - stop playing such good stuff. I've purchased three albums in three days because of great music I heard here!

Fantastic guit work.........

 zevon wrote: 
Jon Redfern too. Nice!

I get the Stills vibe too.
And like it!

kmonahan wrote: I hear Peter Gabriel, but he sounds nothing like Phil Collins.

Nice song...and I do love a Texas sky!

On_The_Beach wrote: Same here, vary Stillsish

Guy sounds like Phil Collins (shudder).

SDBob wrote: Yep; I was hearing the Stills influence as well. Nice tune.

DragonslayerJS wrote: I can hear a little Michael Hedges in his guitar playing. Maybe a little Ragamuffin influence?

MAN! Impressive effort.... Would love to hear more!!!

stubbsz wrote: I first thought this was PG too, not because of the song, but the voice. Very reminiscent of Mr. Gabriel

horstman wrote: I would totally tease you about "David? Who's David?" but you corrected yourself in the next post you made. There's an EDIT button, ya know!

Woo-hoo! Val!

n4ku wrote:

Yay Val!

High quality playing! Good song, I just ordered the CD off Val's website. Best of luck to Val!

His guitar playing cooks.

GolfRomeo wrote:Shoot! I thought it was America. I like it!

YEAH! We LOVE our Val! Hey man, how are the kids?

Nice. Another new one for me.

brandido wrote: It's called a common theme, or thread. It's how Bill makes the show interesting and different from the other stations. Originality is good. So is this song. Solid 8!

brandido wrote: It's called a common theme, or thread. It's how David makes the show interesting and different from the other stations. Originality is good. So is this song. Solid 8!

Mmmmm, yeah.

bobrk wrote: dirty sky? Like the song

Ok, alright already. The sky is big. Let's move on to say, dirt.

Val is sounding a lot like Matthew Sweet

Im likin the groovin tunes.... but what up w/ all the "sky" songs...?

Reminiscent of America's "A Horse With No Name," but with more frills.

Very Nice Album Art....Pretty Good Song

He's the master of his domain.

I was thinking this guy sounds more like Steven Stills even the licks are remincent of Steven. I like it!

Played 6/24/06. Looks like Bill has shortened the rotation. I love this song. Nice to hear it a bit more often.

mrselfdestruct wrote: He pops in occasionally.

Most excellent!!! I like it!!!

What you all said + a dash of clapton.

RobGraham wrote: I thought it was PG and came here to figure out why I didn't know the song. -Adrian

And that really isn't Stephen Stills playing guitar? Talk about Deja Vu!

n4ku wrote: agreed. all of val's stuff is quite good.

I never tire of hearing this.

Should follow this up with Texas Skies by the Freddy Jones Band. Another great tune.

Val, this rocks! Texas sky, huh....endless skies are what texas is all about. the sound is perfect. keep up the great writing!

GolfRomeo wrote: Excellent! Like you, I thought the vocals were reminscent of CSN. The guitar quality was excellent, both musicianship and recording. But I thought the vocal lead was much better than anyone in Gomez (although they're one of my favorite bands, anyway). Is this, perhaps, another awesome artist from Austin?

Whatever happened to Val? Does he still pop into RP at all?

Let us hear more from this album please!

I liked it ! It caught my attention Now that Bill has mentioned you are a listener, I'd like to hear it again soon so I can listen more closely Very professional, excellent, congratulations !

My thought was Stephen Stills meets Gomez.... in fact, I looked real quick at the playlist and was stunned when it wasn't Gomez. Great tune, tho. drH wrote:

that's crazy. i've lived in vermont on and off for most of my life and i've never heard of him. what venues does he play at? i can't say i'm his biggest fan but i support all things vermont.

pilgrim wrote: Amen! What a great song!! Val is on his way! (Just to think, we knew him when...) :nodhead:

Very easy to listen to--hope we'll hear more of Val

Chunk wrote: Val's Website

Does Val have an updated web site URL? The one posted earlier is 404. Thanks!

Thanks for cleansing my palate after "Blackbird" Go Val GO!!!

Matthew Sweet + Stephen Stills

Reminds me on Peter Gabriel (sort of, kinda...)

really very nice Val :highfive.gif:

I definitely hear the Stills everyone is talking about...I also hear a mellow Cat Stevens. Pretty nice to get 2 of my favorite artists together! :-)

Stephen Stills would never sound this bad.!

This song sucks!!!!!!!!!

Got my new Val Davis CD in the mail yesterday. I'd been wondering when I'd hear some of his stuff again here on RP. Thanks Bill & Rebecca. Oh, and thanks, Val!

oh thanks for playing this. I heard this one before a here a long time ago but hadn\'t heard it again for a long while. Wow everybody is right!!! I guess it DOES sound like Stephen Stills.

I too thought it was Stills. Here\'s to Val\'s health.

Very nice work Val (and RP). Add me to the list that thought he was hearing Steven Stills. I've been listening to RP for quite a while, but I hadn't heard this song before. The guitar mix (and playing, for that matter) is very craftily done. I just purchased the CD from Val's site, and urge others to support this guy.

That\'s a hit.

I\'m sitting here working and subliminally hearing Texas Sky playing thru my head, very nice, a certain early \'Stills\' influence, but new and unique also. Nice sound Val - now I\'m off to to explore your web page... thanks!

I do hear the Stephen Stills, a lot, are you sure it isn\'t him? I\'m just kidding Well done, I always support independant artists, I know how hard it can be out there! *support the samples*

hear a lot of Stephen Stills in him.... that\'s not a bad thing....

Wow! Predict that Val Davis will be on talk shows and reviewed in Newsweek before the new year 2003 is old!!!! And he actually posted a note to us listeners here!! It blows me away. I could almost say I "knew him when"! +<>?L!@#$%^&*()+ ;) P.S. Val, did you know your LOWEST rating on RP was a 5? That is rare! P.P.S. Other listeners, please go to his page (link below) to read about his tribulations. He coulda used some prayers, had we but known. He probably still can.

9! : I really like this, we need more people like Val who just get on with it irrespective of that old fashioned \"signed\" thing. Soon un-signed will become cool, as cool as \"independent\" was in the 80s.

Mot likes this very much. :)

Great song! I too hear Stephen Stills in this. He had a way of making the guitar really sing with harmonics--and so does Val. Add in the excellent writing and beautiful vocals and I\'m ready to buy the CD based on just one track.

Vermont meets Texas - it\'s a \"vertex!\"

Is it just me, or does anyone else hear a similarity to Paul McCartney's Vanilla Sky (which I like)?

Incredible song, Val. I love it! I\'ve been recommending it to all my music loving friends. We\'re all waiting anxiously for your CD. Keep up the good work! Captain Sacto

Nice work Val I like you photos on your website. You look a bit like Harrison Ford in a couple of them. Take it from another HF lookalike. JP

Excellent music, lovely hooks, great subliminal hints. Will be recommending your songs to people I know here. Keep up the good work and don't get discouraged if you run into hard times. All the Best, Aniruddha Shankar Bangalore, India kream77@yahoo.com

Thank you all so much for your feedback. It truly means a great deal to me. Please, if you post feedback, leave an email address or send me an email so I can thank you and be in touch with you. I would love to be in contact with you. To let you know what I am up to, I am playing every open mic I can drive to here in Vermont. Last week I played live on the radio station at Goddard College (www.wgdr.org). It was a real kick. I also just submitted 3 songs to the SolarFest music festival for their Singer/Songwriter Contest (www.solarfest.org). I want to start touring, but to do that I have to develop a listener base so I will play wherever I can, whenever I can. I am still working on generating the required $1300 I need to press my CD and in the meantime I am recording more tunes that will go on that CD. I am planning to release a cover of Peter Gabriel\'s \"In Your Eyes\" and possibly a cover of Steven Still\'s \"Treetop Flyer\". Again, thank you all for your feedback and support and maybe I will play in your town someday! Thanks much Val

Good stuff... kudos to Val. This is why Internet Radio rules.

Trippy Jefferson Airplane (yeah, I know that\'s redundant) meets CSNY on a good day.

I liked this selection enough to get a CD with Val\'s signature. Best of luck, to a fine performer.

i like this song a lot....its just got a nice groove and sassy guitar playing

I completley agree with you

This is great. I loved the lead play. great slidy style.

Hippie gives this two thumbs-up

Finally heard it today. Nice cut, Val. Soothing to the pilgrim\'s ears. :D

To all of you who have written reviews of my song \"The Texas Sky\" I would like to say wow........I cannot thank all of you enough. I don\'t have words to express what this type of support means to me. I have been singing and writing for many years without a way to reach an audience. This interaction with the Radio Paradise listeners is more than I could have asked for. A few quick notes. I will be releasing a full album within the next month or 45 days. I am pre-selling copies of the CD to cover pressing costs. For any of you who would like a copy, I will hand burn a pre-copy for you and then send you a \"Pressed Copy\" when they are available. I will hand write thank you notes on the inside of the disc for all of you who purchase this disk. You can purchase the CD by emailing me at vald@onevermont.com. CD\'s are $13 each. I will send you the paypal URL or send you a mailing list where you can send your payment. $3 from each disc purchased will go to Bill and Radio Paradise (Thanks very much Bill for playing my song.) Also,I will be playing live on the air (local radio station) on February 14th at 7pm est. Visit my homepage at https://www.onevermont.com/valdavis for more info. Again thanks to all of you. Val

Not sure what Eric the Half-Bee is listening to... Sounds like a clean recording to me. As a musician and a knob twister myself, I\'d say the recording sounds really professional. And the song is well written and performed. Yes, do send in more!

Very good mate. Give us s\'more!

The consensus in our office is a \'two thumbs up!\'

I'd like to hear your voice more... more ... um, louder than the instrumentals. That's something controllable via the soundboard, isn't it? (I am not technically knowledgable here. the point is: I want to hear his voice more!)

Holds up to the RP standard! Sounds very good. More?

Too bad my record label is on the back burner, I\'d sign you :) Kyle

I really like the guitar in this particular cut. Percussion is great too. Val, you do sound like Peter Gabriel. I hope you find this to be a compliment because I\'m sure everyone here means it to be. You are VERY talented. Thanks for sharing your music with us!