Turn And Fade

Even in remote desert roadhouses, guitar enthusiasts turn up to scratch their beards and scrutinize Dave Gleason’s equipment. But one listen to his fourth album Turn And Fade should make anyone realize that it’s all in his playing. Like the late, great Clarence White, Gleason wields a B-Bender Telecaster that allows him to approximate the swells of a pedal-steel guitar while picking like he has six fingers on his left hand. Turn And Fade resonates with tones as timeless as any of Gleason’s influences. Opening instrumental “All Morning Long” sounds like something plucked right out of a ‘60s set-list from Buck Owens and Don Rich, while the title-track twangs and chimes like it was blessed by Doug Dillard and Gene Clark’s recordings. Gleason sings with a nasal toned Gram Parsons inflection on the weepy tear-in-beer “If You’re Going Through Ale” while the melodic “Pale Blue” channels some post-Parsons Byrds. Mellower ballads like “The Neon and the Wine” as well as “The Rails Don’t Run Here” find Gleason singing the kind of heartbroken honky-tonk tunes that will hit home with anyone who's ever drank to a George Jones or Merle Haggard record.