David Mead (musician)

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David Mead
Mead in 2003
Background information
Birth name	David Worth Mead
Born	1973 (age 47–48)
Genres	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Website	www.davidmead.com

David Worth Mead (born 1973) is a Nashville-based pop singer-songwriter.^[1] Over the years he has toured extensively, headlining as well as opening shows for John Mayer, Fountains of Wayne, Ron Sexsmith, Liz Phair, Joe Jackson, and Shelby Lynne.

Biography and album releases[]

Born to a traveling salesman father and school teacher mother, David Mead moved often during childhood, mostly around the southern US. As a kid, he sang in the church choir and school stage productions like The Sound Of Music. When he was thirteen, he got his first guitar and was soon writing his own songs. Three years later, he was gigging out professionally. His travels eventually took him to Nashville, where he played in bands such as Blue Million and Joe, Marc's Brother. Drawing on a wide range of influences – from The Beatles to Broadway to The Police to Rufus Wainwright – Mead has honed a highly melodic and emotionally direct style of pop.

The Luxury of Time[]

In 1998, Mead signed a major-label deal with RCA Records and moved to New York City soon after. The initial sessions for his debut – three songs recorded with Gus Dudgeon (Elton John, XTC) – proved unsuccessful and were scrapped. Mead then regrouped with producers Peter Collins (Cardigans, Rush) and Jason Lehning (Emerson Hart, Alison Krauss), and between October '98 and February '99 cut The Luxury of Time. "The title came from the fact that I had all of my life up to that point to write the songs," Mead said. Indeed, the album's 13 songs were culled from 32 demos. Released September 28, 1999, on RCA, the album garnered strong critical response and featured performances from Rusty Anderson (Paul McCartney), Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, Smashing Pumpkins) and Paul Deakin (The Mavericks).

Mine and Yours[]

Mead's second album, produced by Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne), was recorded at New York City's legendary Sear Sound Studio (John Lennon, Steely Dan) and released May 15, 2001, on RCA. Featuring guest performances from Dominique Durand (Ivy), Sean Pelton (the Saturday Night Live band), Danny Weinkaupf (They Might Be Giants) and Jody Porter (Fountains Of Wayne), its 14 songs were recorded from 34 demos. Two of the album's most notable tracks, "Standing Here In Front Of Me" and "Girl on the Roof," were written one week before recording commenced, when RCA asked for more "single material." "Standing Here In Front Of Me" was later featured in CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful, and "Girl on the Roof" appeared in the motion picture The Sweetest Thing.

Indiana[]

After Mine and Yours, Mead delivered a follow-up for RCA titled "Wherever You Are," but it was made under a proverbial dark cloud after an A&R person for the label proclaimed at the recording's commencement dinner that, given sales of Mead's first two albums, it was a "miracle" that a third was being recorded at all. Mead soon departed RCA and, in between road gigs, started an EP with Nashville producer David Henry (Matthew Ryan, Guster); it soon blossomed into the full-length Indiana. Featuring some of Mead's best-loved songs, including the title track, "Nashville," and "Beauty," it remains his most recognized and critically acclaimed album ("A knack for telling stories via catchy, concise pop ditties," said No Depression) to date. It was released June 7, 2004, on Nettwerk Records.

Wherever You Are[]

Mead's third album for RCA, recorded in August 2002 at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, and Real World Studios in Bath, England, and mixed by Tchad Blake, finally emerged as a six-song EP on June 28, 2005, via Eleven Thirty Records. "I got the album back when I left the label but felt, after releasing Indiana, that the full package was confusing and not indicative of where I was going musically anymore, so I tried to frame the songs as more a lost piece of time," Mead says. PopMatters raved that Wherever You Are contains "mature songs that express genuine warmth and emotional intelligence."

Tangerine[]

In 2005, Mead married artist Natalie Cox, and this album found him coming to terms with both domesticity and the quirks and eccentricities of being in his thirties.^{[citation needed]} "I wanted to make a super expansive pop album in the tradition of XTC's Skylarking and Elvis Costello's Spike", Mead said.^{[This quote needs a citation]} Produced by Brad Jones (Jill Sobule, Butterfly Boucher), it includes the songs "Chatterbox" and "Hunting Season". It was released May 16, 2006, on Tallulah! Media. Paste called it "dazzling" and it was voted best Pop/Rock album in the 2006 Independent Music Awards.^{[citation needed]}

Almost and Always[]

In 2008, after a divorce, Mead moved from Brooklyn back to Nashville. Reteaming with Brad Jones at Alex the Great studio, he recorded this intimate collection in seven days, most of it live. The majority of the album was cowritten with Bill DeMain of Swan Dive; they originally conceived the project for an imaginary chanteuse. The track "Last Train Home" was an NPR Song of the Day and was featured in a 2009 episode of ABC's Private Practice. Mead and DeMain also cowrote a second, as-yet-unreleased album, 1908 Division, a conceptual suite about the denizens of an apartment building where Mead once resided.

Dudes[]

In late 2010, Mead enlisted the financial support of his fans via Kickstarter to raise funds ($20,925) for a new album, Dudes. As the title implies, the songs are all written from the perspective of men. Recorded in nine days in NYC and produced by Ethan Eubanks and Mead (executive produced by Adam Schlesinger), it deepens Mead's songwriting with strains of Randy Newman-esque wry humor ("Bocce Ball") and sharp storytelling ("The Smile Of Rachael Ray"). The release date was November 15, 2011.

Cobra Pumps[]

On January 25, 2019, Mead sent an email to every address on his website's mailing list to announce the release of his seventh studio album. "When it came time to figure how to release COBRA PUMPS," he wrote, "I needed money and, out of habit, approached a few different music business people for help. After a few slightly bizarre meetings in which algorithmically-induced metrics and social media compliance were discussed with a ferocity once reserved for killer hooks and Led Zeppelin, I deduced that I simply don't fit into the industry anymore, if I ever did. It now requires very different skill sets than the ones I have spent my life attempting to master. And that is OK with me." Mead elaborated that he would be emailing links to his new album's ten tracks, as well as demos and other content, over the next ten days.^[2] Cobra Pumps became available for purchase on iTunes on January 29,^[3] and on CD and vinyl at Mead's website several days later.^[4]

Collaborations[]

In recent years, Mead has been involved in two high-profile side projects. In 2009 he founded Elle Macho, a power trio with Aussie singer-songwriter Butterfly Boucher and drummer Lindsay Jamieson (Ben Folds, Brendan Benson). Their zany videos and high-energy live shows have made them a Nashville favorite, and a full-length debut album is expected in late 2011.

Mead also formed Davey Ukulele & the Gag Time Gang. Nashville Scene said: "Sounding like a cross between 'Whip It'-era Devo and the pop pastiches on Phineas & Ferb, this merry kids' band actually camouflages a genuine supergroup: the tag team of David Mead, Swan Dive's Bill DeMain, Brother Henry's David Henry and The Mavericks' Paul Deakin." Their debut, The Adventures of Davey Ukulele & the Gag Time Gang, was released in 2010. A follow-up is expected in 2012.

Several times a year, Mead travels to Key West, Florida, to perform in a cover band called Phanni Pac (with Jason White, Scotty Huff and Paul Deakin) at the Hog's Breath Saloon.

He has also been a regular guest singer with Nashville's popular '80s cover band Guilty Pleasures.

Acclaim[]

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"David Mead is one of my favorite singer-songwriters." –John Mayer

"I have 'Nashville' by David Mead stuck in my head." –a tweet by Taylor Swift

"Apart from being such a great songwriter, he's probably the best singer in America." –Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne

"A major tunesmith." –Mojo

"One of the best solo crooners since Jeff Buckley." –Paste

"Rich melodies...a keen sense of pop music history, from Paul McCartney to Squeeze to Crowded House." –Nylon

"A clear-voiced tunesmith ... he scores with sweet melodies ..." –Entertainment Weekly

"Mead makes blue-collar rock of the most delicate kind, his soaring but unshowy falsetto and luscious harmonies far above the ordinary." –Uncut

Discography[]

• The Luxury of Time (RCA, 1999)
• Mine and Yours (RCA, 2001)
• Indiana (Nettwerk, 2004)
• Wherever You Are EP (Eleven Thirty, 2005)
• Tangerine (Tallulah, 2006)
• Almost and Always (Cheap Lullaby, 2009; originally released in Japan in 2008)
• Dudes (self-released, 2011)
• Cobra Pumps (self-released, 2019)

Songs Used in Films and on Television[]

"World of a King," in Boys and Girls (Miramar) and In Search of John Gissing (Sunlight Productions)

"Everyone Knows It But You," in Restaurant (York Entertainment)

"Girl on the Roof," in The Sweetest Thing (Columbia Pictures), National Lampoon's Van Wilder (Lionsgate), and The Future Diary, a pilot not picked up by ABC

"Only in the Movies," in Ed (NBC)

"Standing Here in Front of Me," in The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)

"Beauty," in The Days (ABC)

"Only Living Boy in New York," in Everwood (WB)

"Hallelujah, I Was Wrong," in Men In Trees (ABC)

"Last Train Home," in Private Practice (ABC) and The Protector (Lifetime)

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website
• David Mead collection at the Internet Archive's live-music archive
• older UK fan site