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Origianlly Posted January 2016 – Revised and Updated May 2026
King King’s Blues and Dave Gunning’s Folk Provide the Soundtracks for my Commute to Paulsboro
Back in 2016, I was still mostly writing straight music reviews. Looking back now, I realize these albums became attached to moments in life just as much as the music itself. These songs weren’t just albums playing in the car — they became part of my drives to Paulsboro to babysit Oliver, part of that season of life, and part of the soundtrack to becoming Grandad.
Some music pushes you forward. Some music helps you slow down and reflect.
On this particular day back in 2016, King King provided the energy for the morning drive to Paulsboro, while Dave Gunning supplied the calm for the trip home.
It seems that lately a good portion of the music I listened to is heard on my commutes to Paulsboro to babysit Oliver. Now as best as I can remember Wednesday soundtracks were a blues album Reaching for the Light from the Scottish blues band King King and the afternoon on the afternoon trip a folk album from Canadian folksinger Dave Gunning. The album was Lift his 11th album.
First Up King King – for the drive to Paulsboro
I first listen to King King in 2014 when they released the album Standing in the Shadows. It was a great album and at the 2014 British Blues Awards the band won five awards including the awards for ‘Best Album’ and ‘Best Band”
King King hails from Glasgow and is composed of leader, vocalist and guitarist Alan Nimmo,Lindsay Coulson on bass, Wayne Proctor drums and Bob Fridzema on keyboards.Nimmo says this about Reaching for the Light …
“We’re really proud of this album,” ….”It’s faster, louder, more energetic and more exciting. It’s got the potential to blow the roof off.”….
….”We couldn’t settle with another album that was only as good as Standing In The Shadows,” says Alan. “We’d have got crucified for it. We’ve made a rod for our backs, because now we need something a few steps above. We’re always trying to improve – and I think we’ve managed it.”
Ross Muir of Fabrications HQ thinks so too….
….Because Reaching For the Light is the best blues rock album you’ll hear this year – and one of the best of the modern blues rock era..
Here’s King King with “You Stopped the Rain” from Reaching For the Light
Dave Gunning- Lift Fuels the Trip Home
On the way back from Paulsboro I listened to Lift the new album from Canadian singer-songwriter Dave Gunning. Like King King, I first listened to Gunning’s music a few years ago, In Gunning’s case it was his 2012 album No More Pennies. Dave’s music fits in that niche of folksinger’s who write great story songs. Guys like fellow Canadians James Keelaghan and Gordon Lightfoot….from the Toronto Star…
Gunning is the next big thing in the True North of Song, an artist as compelling, as assured and attentive to every nuance of the writing process, as Lightfoot, Cockburn and Stan Rogers before him.”
From FYImusic,ca Dave Gunning’s Career Gets A ‘Lift’
The recording career of rootsy East Coast singer/songwriter Dave Gunning now spans 20 years and 10 earlier albums. These have netted him a total of two Canadian Folk Music Awards and eight East Coast Music Awards, plus a 2012 Juno Award nomination for his acclaimed album … a tribute to John Allan Cameron. He was the winner of the Indie International Song Contest (for his song, “Hard Workin’ Hands,” co-written with Ron Hynes) and has been a finalist in other major international songwriting contests.
Expect more awards on the Gunning trophy shelf for his brand new 11th album, Lift. Released on his own imprint Wee House of Music on July 10th, this highly accomplished and eclectic collection is sure to please his still-growing audience at home and abroad. All 13 tunes are Gunning originals, though he has recruited a heady cast of talented friends/peers to assist on co-writes. That list includes fellow East Coasters Matt Andersen, Catherine MacLellan, and Thom Swift, plus American Sally Spring. Full Article
Dave writes this about Lift .……
Gunning acknowledges that “this album has more personal and introspective songs than my past recordings. I do still love songs that are about things and tell a real story, like the songs of Stan Rogers. They inspire me.”
A fine example of that here is “I Robbed The Co. Store,” which tells the true story of a group of British settlers in Nova Scotia in the 1770s forced to steal from a storehouse reserved for troops just so they could feed their families. A more contemporary song with a Pictou County setting is “They Don’t Do That No More.” “That one is inspired by the fight we have here against a pulp mill that is just an environmental disaster,” explains Gunning. The mournful sound of the pedal steel punctuates his lament that “there’s poison on the harbour floor.” It’s a song one of Dave’s key inspirations, the late folk great Pete Seeger, would have been proud to call his own. Read More
So Check Out Dave’s Music at http://www.davegunning.com/bio/
Here’s Dave performing “Sing It Louder” from Lift – Dave says this about the song….
“Sing It Louder,” is actually a tribute to Seeger. “My goal was to write a song you could imagine him singing,” says Gunning. “As folk singers we should all aspire to carry the torch of Pete Seeger and his message of social justice.”
I do believe, Pete would be proud!
Links for KingKing
Links for Dave Gunning
Ten years later, I can barely think about these albums without remembering those drives across South Jersey — morning traffic heading toward Paulsboro with blues blasting through the speakers, then quieter folk music carrying me home after a day with Oliver. That’s how music works for me now. Albums become timestamps for life.