A folk/rock/pop effort that sometimes detours into pop-country,
This Town showed Dave Mallet to be a thoughtful and expressive storyteller.
Mallet was also an obscure storyteller -- this little known CD wasn't a huge seller by any means. But those who were lucky enough to hear it agreed that
Mallet was someone who deserved a higher profile. The singer did much of the writing on
This Town, and the stories that he tells are stories that stick with you. "Main Street" laments the commercialization of a small town, while "How Much More" and "Take the Time" question the fast-paced, rat-race lifestyle of the '90s. All of these songs sound quite personal to
Mallett, who obviously has a great fondness for small-town America and yearns for a simpler, less hectic time. As far as influences go, he seems to have learned a few things from
Gordon Lightfoot as well as
Johnny Cash and
Merle Haggard (even though this is far from a hardcore country album). But whatever his influences,
Mallett is very much his own man.
This Town is well worth searching for. ~ Alex Henderson