Editing an americana site for the last 24 years, one of the things I often get asked is the age old question “what is Americana?” and while not particularly having an answer, I commented on our 20 year anniversary that if I was to pinpoint one thing that’s changed since the late 1990s it’s that sense of quirkiness which you used to get with bands like The Handsome Family and Silver Jews – I mean you still do with the Handsomes of course but there’s not enough of it around. It’s like over time we remembered the country but not the alt.
I’ve always enjoyed some of the artists we cover in that sense that push the boundaries, but I can’t think of anyone who’s affected me as much in all the time I’ve been doing this as Drew Danburry, who has recorded in recent years both under his own name and his band Icarus Phoenix. He just ticks so many boxes for me – the melodies, the arrangements, the fabulous artwork, the amazingly creative videos, the melodies again, the inclusiveness, the honesty, the very long unpredictable song titles, the dedications and above all else the lyrics. There’s a whole “More People Should Know About…” piece which will progress one day this year from my brain to this website, but in a nutshell, they are relatable, clever, moving, funny and original. I think he’s one of the best lyricists out there, a poet for our times and any time.
He’s an incredibly prolific artist, I’m talking Willie Nelson like prolific, or Ryan Adams during his early career, or They Might Be Giants’ dial-a-song era. I’ve never counted but I’m sure there are years he’s recorded 365 songs. It’s what makes delving into his back catalogue such an adventure. When I mentioned to Drew that I was going to come out of feature writing retirement to pen a piece on my current top 10 favourite songs of his (and I say “current” because they have changed over the years), I was delighted he was able to send me some commentary on each one. You’ll notice that it’s geared towards his more recent material but that’s because, for me, he just keeps getting better. He’s an artist who gives so much to the listener. In his own words: “Thank you so much for spending time with me. With anything I’ve done. I’m humbled and honored to be a part of anyone’s journey”.
10. ‘High Tide’ taken from the album “I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said” (2024)
This song has got such a good chord change right near the start of it which gets me every time – it’s a song which was nowhere near my favourite on this album on first listen but as is often the case it grew in time, and although the honesty is brutal, it’s cathartic in the universality of having been through the pain of a relationship breakup. In Drew’s words: “Getting divorced and moving across the country to work and live in a brand new place where I didn’t know more than two people was tough. Thankfully, I’d been through something similar before (minus the divorce) so I had some sort of experience dealing with the brashness of humanity’s ability to judge a book by its cover. To relegate value based on image, money, status, skill, etc. But you can drown in it. You can drown in the way people treat you. And usually, it’s based around whether or not you’re popular or pretty or successful. So you dig deep and work hard. But work tends to be a dead end if you have no purpose for why you’re living. Making money with no reason to spend it is hollow. That juxtaposed with an ex-partner who expected forgiveness, empathy and understanding but didn’t offer any was tough. Life isn’t fair though. And I feel like other people have dealt with worse and deal with worse. There have been a lot of people who’ve heard these songs and reached out because they felt alone in this experience. But they’re not. We’re not alone. Also, this song pretty much sums up getting divorced and moving across the country.”
9. ‘Prologue: The truly beautiful thing about humility and open-mindedness is when we actually live it and not when we focus on how humble or open-minded other people are or aren’t’ taken from “Becoming Bastian Salazar” (2013)
As good an example of any as the extremely long song titles which are always like a window into a world before you’ve even hit play. There’s a tenderness to this track which has echoes of material to come in the future. Be aware that for a song which only last two minutes, it takes a while to start properly so don’t worry, you haven’t accidentally hit your mute key. Drew comments: “When I showed this song to one of my lifelong friends he told me my voice cracking at the beginning of the song wasn’t professional, didn’t sound good and I should change it. I laughed, because the line right after is “Accepting my own imperfections, doesn’t mean you’d do the same.””
8. ‘Gild for JW Teller’ taken from “Sometimes Our Shadow Gets in the Way” (2022)
I love the beginning of this song so much and it’s the first song in this list which probably in an obvious way connects Drew to the world of Americana courtesy of the banjo which as he points out – well, I’ll let Drew explain: “There is a secret in this song that my son Striker, myself and J.W. Teller know about. Only one person cracked the code thus far. But I love writing songs with layers and secrets. With multiple meanings. Especially when there’s an inside meaning for ourselves but it also works outside of that context in a more general way. I borrowed the banjo hanging on the wall of the barbershop I worked at in Missoula, Montana and recorded all the banjo for this album over the span of one weekend. I hadn’t played banjo before or since, so I’m proud of that. I’m glad this song made the cut. My son singing a goofy song about whiskey at the beginning is also a feather in the cap.”
7. ‘Nostalgia for Arannis Morisette, the Half-Elf Bard’ taken from “Son” EP (2024)
Learning to be a dad in my early fifties has been one of life’s great revelations to me, it’s a slog but also way more fun than I was expecting, and I’m constantly in awe of my son’s awe, he basically sometimes makes me feel like a magician. Drew captures the magic of being a parent without being cloying – I generally hate songwriters singing about their kids – which is a magical trick in itself. Drew comments: “An ode to the musicians Jason Anderson and Jake Bellows (of Neva Dinova) and the decision to pursue songwriting as my craft in life. A clever mention of fey ancestry for my son who loves D&D and the realization that sometimes writing a song is like casting a spell. Voila.”
6. ‘The Sea Legs of the Mandarin Dynasty’ taken from “No Tree Can Grow to Heaven Unless Its Roots Reach Down to Hell” (2021)
I love the philosophy on Drew’s records, the lyrics constantly probing, spiralling off in different directions with the sheer volume of ideas in them. This is a good example of this but with some brilliantly clever wordplay, and at its heart the importance of acceptance which as a human race right now we could all do with more of. In Drew’s words: “This song is full of all the unanswerable questions I ask myself all the time. The dog bit was very much for my now ex-wife who hates dogs. She once described it like living in a world where people had killer snakes and spiders for pets and how frustrating it was when people looked at her weird when their unleashed pet would approach her. She would usually freak out and they wouldn’t understand. I feel like I’ve always been caught in the middle. Of everything. Raised to be a good Mormon kid but in love with skateboarding, DIY punk and questioning authority. I find myself always trying to lobby for understanding and empathy in a world that feels like it’s progressively more and more close-minded. Maybe it’s always been that way. But my ex-wife is scared of dogs. I’m not a fan of dogma. People seem to love both of those things. Not to be dogmatic about it, of course.”
5. ‘Zero One (for Will Sartain)’ taken from “Icarus Phoenix” (2021)
I have wept more times than I remember to Drew’s music and the opening track from the first album by his Icarus Phoenix project gave me proper goosebumps on first listen which made both my arms look like uncooked chickens, it was almost like a feeling of coming home to a really familiar place. This is the first example in this list of one of Drew’s hand-drawn animations for a video which must have taken him forever and adds so much to each song. It’s also an example of how he often dedicates songs within the titles themselves to important individuals in his life. As he explains: “A key figure and highly influential musician in my life has been Will Sartain. He plays a huge part in the Salt Lake City music scene and has for decades. The song itself was the first song I wrote for the Icarus Phoenix project. I had moved away from family and friends to a brand new place. I was a literal unknown. Starting from ground zero. Humbling, wonderful, but extremely difficult. I was struggling to find value in my existence and dealing with some heavy depression. I was not getting support from my life partner at the time and her family was telling her to leave me. I was questioning everything. I remember asking my 5 year old if life would be easier without me around and he said “Yeah”. It crushed me. I was ready to put myself in a dumpster and blow my brains out. I logically thought the world would be better off without me for everyone…I’ve since changed my mind. I’m sure some people would prefer me to be gone, but most seem to be glad I stuck around. So that’s nice.”
4. ‘All the Same’ taken from “No Tree Can Grow to Heaven Unless Its Roots Reach Down to Hell” (2021)
More philosophy which is worth a thousand self-help books for me, and with such a good video again, the love and care put into them are a world away from the generic AI-generated fodder that sometimes feel like an episode of Roy Walker’s Catchphrase set to music. Drew says of this one: “A love letter to staying in the moment. Finding that balance. Enjoying what we have right now. It could be worse. Granted, it could be better, but it also could be so much worse. I try to remember that.”
3. ‘Red Rock Virgin’s Encounter with Winter Nights’ taken from “Besides: Are We Just Playing Around Out Here or Do We Mean What We Say” (2005)
The earliest song by far from this list and one which will forever take me back to a house gig 20 years ago in Liverpool which probably broke all sort of fire regs but ended up with a random roomful of people singing its refrain, it was simply magical. I hadn’t taken in the full meaning at the time but in Drew’s words now: “It wasn’t easy to process the high expectations and abject failure so many have in maintaining their “purity” before marriage within the construct of the Mormon Church but having been raised in such a way, I found it frustrating. In more ways than one. (had to, sorry). The culture of Utah is one of extremism, it’s very black and white and it’s difficult to be a human being when everyone is pushed into extremes. That’s essentially what this song addresses. I could say so much more about it, but it’s a long winded analysis, so I’ll stop here.”
2. ‘Alpha Centauri’ taken from “Sometimes Our Shadow Gets in the Way” (2022)
This song has one of my favourite lyrics I’ve ever heard in a song: “Dear God, whatever you are, couldn’t you have been more kind”. It’s been a rough few years in recent times and I often come back to this line after a bad day. It’s just so full of humanity and compassion without a hint of self-pity. In Drew’s words: “I had a moment, in the middle of the day, where I felt like a friend from high school across the country was wanting to kill themself. It fucked me up. Seriously shook me to the core. I called him and made sure he was doing alright. Told him I cared about him. But I still can’t wrap my brain around it. It was how people describe panic attacks but I was feeling someone else’s pain? It washed over me within a moment and I almost started sobbing in public. This feeling came over me that felt so real that he was on the verge of killing himself and even in the moment I knew it made no sense. I have no evidence of them feeling that way. I never brought it up with him, so I can’t verify they even felt that way. But I can still feel the echoes of that moment years later. It was so bizarre and I still can’t figure out what came over me.”
1. ‘Mediocrity, for Micah Dahl Anderson (Who is Amazing and Not Mediocre)’ taken from “Pallid Boy & Spindling Girl” (2019)
I have a musician friend (I do know the odd one) who feels that songs are in the ether waiting to be caught and if that is the case, how pleased would you feel to net this one. Perhaps the only time I’ll ever use Drew’s name and Oasis in the same sentence is here in that they are both artists who will allow their best tracks to not be on albums – this track is taken from an EP released back in 2019. His voice feels so fragile at times in it and I feel a deep sense of connection when it does. The video is just sublime too – his first animation which is funny, moving, thoughtful. In Drew’s words for one last time: “I started my first band with Micah Dahl Anderson. He gave me the courage to write my own songs and facilitated the process. The song itself tackles so many themes I struggle with in my own life. Acceptance of my own failure to reach a self-imposed ideal. An indictment of dogmatic extremism. The pointlessness of comparison. Embracing self-acceptance and recognition of that cycle I’ve been through (or put myself through) so often. Failure, try again. Failure. Try, again. In all reality, this song was the beginning of Icarus Phoenix. It embodies the idea behind the band name. It was the first song I collaborated with Jed Jones on and in all fairness, Jed is the collaborator I’ve been searching for my whole life. Someone who understands what I’m trying to do but knows how to smooth out those rough edges. Polish the ideas that work and get rid of the ones that don’t. I’m constantly stuck between existentialism and nihilism. We’re powerful. We’re weak. There’s no meaning. It all has meaning. With the video, it was my first foray into hand drawn animation because I thought “I’ve never drawn before, so I’d be perfect in making a mediocre hand drawn animation.”
