Dave Munsick was recently asked to name his most prized possessions.
Right now, they are a 22 foot length of rope and a half smoked cigar.
These are the tools of a song teller.
The legendary horseman Buck Brannaman braided me this rope and I use it as my mecate rein when I ride.
This cigar came from the top of a hand hewn table in Cuba where I was drinking black coffee with a tobacco farmer in the one room cement block cabin where he was born. When he asked me how I liked the coffee, I replied in the best Spanish I could muster that the coffee was to my liking – strong like a good woman, a good country, and a good life. He broke into a big smile, pulled some fresh tobacco leaves out of a bag and rolled me the cigar. I smoked half and saved half as a sign of a life both well cared for and well lived.
Growing up, Dave was immersed into Hemingway’s intimate looks at people and the land. He was also fed a steady musical diet that ranged from the lyrical truth of Bob Dylan and Jimmy Rodgers to the melodic balance of Bach, The Beatles and Dave Brubeck. When you mix this background with his chosen ranching lifestyle, it’s no wonder that you come up with compositions that are at once anthems for the working man and adventures for the musical explorer.
Think Charlie Russell riding through new country over the smooth tracks of Ian Tyson.
What kind of stories would a guy like this write? As you might guess, his sound covers a wide panorama, a landscape that is simultaneously rooted in virility and sensitivity. His subject matter is limitless; it’s the sound of the people, the places, and the times of the country that he travels.
Dave’s songs are used by radio programmers in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand looking to give their audiences fresh looks at the new west. He is also aired on TV, playing custom compositions for themed shows that look to present artistic sides of western culture.
