Don Chaffer – What You Don’t Know

Description

What You Don’t Know is a solo album by the American singer and songwriter Don Chaffer of Waterdeep fame, independently released on Hey Ruth Music in 2002, distributed by Grassroots Music Distribution. The album was produced by Don Chaffer and Russ Long.

The fact that this album came out in 2002 and I’m just getting round to it shows how easy it is for American independent artists to fall through the gaps here in Cross Rhythms. Even artists whose work you admire. Chaffer was at the heart of one of my all time favourite bands, Waterdeep. After Squint Entertainment went belly up, various combinations of band members continued the Waterdeep name but only as an occasional independent concern. Chaffer returned to solo work and here he plays all the instruments himself except drums which are handled by Waterdeep member Brandon Graves. With songs written after 9/11 and following his mother’s death from leukaemia, there is obviously a solemnity to the proceedings but Chaffer’s faith means that there are sprinklings of hope to prevent the album becoming overwhelmingly dark. As a songwriter he has always managed to capture the light, dark and contradictions of life and that skill continues here as he pens an album of songs that thematically could be summed up as encouraging perseverance in the darkest of times. Musically the album is split into two halves. The first eight songs are presented in a band format with the usual blend of pop rock and gentle funk, tightly recorded. The second set of eight songs is a stripped down acoustic affair with Chaffer’s voice and acoustic guitar carrying the songs beautifully. Favourite songs? «The Luckiest Man On the Face Of The World» is a phrase used by retiring baseball player Lou Gehrig whose career was cut short by a muscle wasting disease and uttered these words to describe himself at a benefit game in his honour. «Bring The Sadness Back In» looks at the way in which humanity masks its own aches by distractions and sin and you can feel Don longing for others to walk into the honesty that he himself inhabits. Part of that theme is continued on the excellent groove of «Man, I’m Gonna Sing» where Don lists all the things he is going to give away in order to live in the real. There’s a sense of unburdening, of stripping away and approaching Jesus as a child, free from distractions. [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, July 2007]

> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/what-you-dont-know/260993477)

CD tracklist:

01. The Luckiest Man On The Face Of The Earth
02. If I Wanted To
03. Cross The Mountain Stream
04. Frederic
05. Man, I’m Gonna Sing
06. Pedal Mouth
07. People Go By Like A Flame
08. Against The Window Pane
09. Up Before The Sun
10. The Quiet Wonder
11. Long On Diagnosis, Short On Cure
12. Leave Me Alone
13. Farewell

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