INDIE CD REVIEWS 103

Denison Witmer - Of Joy & Sorrow (Alternative Acoustic)

1) Forgiven 2) Stations 3) Rise and Fall 4) Simple Life 5) Rock Run 6) Reaching 7) You and Me 8) The 80's 9) Yesterday, Tomorrow 10) Light My Way

Release Date: 2002 Label: Burnt Toast Vinyl Producer: Denison Witmer & Blake Wescott Official Website: http://www.denisonwitmer.com

Pennsylvania's Denison Witmer is something special. The simple guitar picking and reedy vocals of Denison Witmer are filled with confessional detail and a patient, creep up on you brand of understatement. Witmer's songs are austere, acoustic laments sung in a deceptively potent wisp of delivery. Witmer has chosen a unique path for himself. That path is of simplicity recognizing the almost overwhelming power of simple honesty. His debut album, Safe Away with his less is more approach is augmented by the warm production of Don Peris (The Innocence Mission). With his sophomore River Bends EP, Denison proves he's was the real thing. His music has a timeless quality to it. Of Joy & Sorrow has a seemingly endless supply of crystal clear images of the life and soul of a man trying to find his way. The simple honesty and lack of pretense lends an intensity and slow, quiet emotional burn rare in current music circles. "My writing is one hundred
percent autobiographical... people that hear my songs really hear me. I have a reflective personality, I'm painfully loyal, I'm very confessional, I'm hopelessly romantic, very laid back, and view things very simply."

Recording Personnel:

Denison Witmer (electric & acoustic guitar, vocals), Don Peris (banjo, organ, electric guitar),
Karen Peris (harmony vocal), Jesse Sprinkle (drums), Richard Seiber (bass), Daniel Frenck (bass),
Blake Wescott (bass, electric, acoustic & slide guitar, piano, organ, drums, percussion, harmony vocals), Shannon Stephens (vocals), Benjamin Brubaker (drums), Brianna Mullock (piano), Katlin Mullock (piano)

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