Christopher Denny has a voice that will stop you in your tracks; a fervent Orbison meets Dylan tenor that fills his songs with a tremendous emotional pressure. It’s the voice of a Southern choirboy who attended the church of alcohol, drugs and self-destruction in a failed attempt to deal with his inner pain and conflicts.
He has a gift for infusing simple words with raw sentiment and marrying them to haunting melodies that immediately capture your attention. “The album was inspired by my struggles,” Denny says. “The moments in my life that caused me the most hurt and brought me the most beauty. The songs deal with the self-loathing, fear and thoughts of inadequacy we all struggle with, something I call soft suicide.”
The music on If The Roses Don’t Kill Us, his Partisan Records debut, is just as gripping as Denny’s lyrics; a blend of pre-country Southern music, folk, rock, gospel and singer/songwriter impulses, a style Denny calls Arkansas Soul. The album’s crisp, clean arrangements combine Denny’s acoustic finger picking with subtle touches of electric guitar, pedal steel and a solid rhythm section.