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The Unlikely Optimist & His Domestic Adventures

by Jerry David DeCicca

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Coffee Black 02:24
3.
Texas Toad 01:58
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6.
13 Steps 02:46
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No Crime 03:05
8.
Quiet Life 03:13
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Grape Jelly 01:48
10.

about

As soon as we heard the opening line of the near-11 minute cosmic-country road epic, ‘West Texas Trilogy’, “I can smell gasoline and tacos….” we knew we had to release this one…

Jerry David DeCicca's fourth solo album, ‘The Unlikely Optimist and His Domestic Adventures’, is an anti-Hallmark ode to positivity set in the Texas Hill Country where he lives. Dark gray in one corner, silly in another, humorous but always human, it features Augie Meyers (Sir Douglas Quintet) on Vox Continental & squeezebox, Ralph White (Bad Livers) on violin and kalimaba, Frank 'The Wild Jalapeno' Rodarte (Doug Sahm) on tenor sax, and JDD's buddies, electric guitarist Don Cento (Sarah Jaffee), bassist Canaan Faulkner (Black Swans, Will Beeley), drummer Jovan Karcic (Scrawl), and his partner, Eve Searls, on backing and duet vocals.

Some of the songs: “I See Horizons” is a mediation that peaks over the next ledge; “Coffee Black” is a wake-up call to mellowing out; “Texas Toad” finds joy in the little creatures among us; “West Texas Trilogy” is a road song that trances and traces poverty, nature, memory & music along the border to Big Bend; “Quiet Life” just sits on the front porch.

DeCicca’s day-job is as a provider of vocational rehabilitation services (which means he works with individuals with disabilities to obtain and maintain competitive and integrated employment in their communities), as well as recording, producing and compiling music for lost legends of country music like Will Beeley, Elyse Weinerg and Bob Martin, working for labels such as Numero Group and Tompkins Square

"My whole life, I've struggled with anxiety and depression. But through music, people who love me, and meaningful work, I've gathered enough light to keep getting out of bed. And, in my own way, I've gradually become a happier person, despite the garbage world that maybe we’ve always lived in. This is a record about self-reflection and gratitude, but not in a cheesy way.”

Housed in the beautiful artwork of Jeb Loy Nichols, Worried Songs will release this record at the beginning of October - a perfect Autumnal hug of a record.

Considering this one was recorded pre-pandemic, it has almost become the perfect pandemic record – an ode to the simple pleasures of life, reflecting on our role on this wild sphere, and holding on tight to the ones you love.
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The Music Press on ‘The Unlikely Optimist and His Domestic Adventures

Listening to this album, the often tossed around phrase “Cosmic American Music” comes to mind, but that still isn’t totally right. “Outsider Music” and “Singer-Songwriter” barely cover it either. With its combination of folk, country and hard rock elements plus the occasional hint of psychedelia, this is a record that truly exists as a singularity. It possesses a sound that is invented solely by DeCicca and his supporting musicians, and that’s all there is to it.”
(Record Crates United)

“DeCicca has a sideline in producing semi-legendary songwriters who have fallen out of the spotlight, like Larry Jon Wilson, Ed Askew, Chris Gantry and Will Beeley, and it seems with The Unlikely Optimist that he’s turning into one of these guys himself. This album distills the craft and struggle of music making into gorgeous, deceptively simple-sounding songs like it’s nothing, but it’s not nothing, far from it.”
(Jennifer Kelly, Dusted)

“Following a pair of 2018 albums called Time The Teacher and Burning Daylight, DeCicca has applied his unique perspective and unmistakable voice to a new set of songs called The Unlikely Optimist And His Domestic Adventures. Billed as “an anti-Hallmark ode to Positivity,” it features an extensive cast of characters including Augie Meyers of the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados, Ralph White of Bad Livers, Frank “The Wild Jalapeño” Rodarte, Scrawl’s Jovan Karcic, DeCicca’s partner Eve Searls, his former Black Swans bandmate Canaan Faulkner, and his buddy Don Cento. Essentially it brings together a deep lineage of significant Austin and Columbus musicians, as only DeCicca could.”
(Stereogum)

“With his latest album, The Unlikely Optimist and His Domestic Adventures, Jerry David DeCicca proves that happiness can be as dynamic a subject matter as tension or conflict. DeCicca is a veteran musician who played for over a decade in a band called The Black Swans. The Unlikely Optimist, the fourth album is his growing solo oeuvre, is an album that sparkles with joy from beginning to end.”
(Undrcurrents)

credits

released October 1, 2021

Jerry - acoustic guitar, vocals, percussion
Augie Meyers- Vox Continental, squeezebox
Don Cento- electric guitar
Canaan Faulkner- double bass
Jovan Karcic- drums
Ralph White- kalimba, violin
Frank "The Wild Jalapeno" Rodarte- tenor sax
Diana Burgess- cello
Eve Searls- backing vocal & duet vocal

Mixed by Chris Shaw (Dylan's Rough & Rowdy Ways/Love & Theft, Wilco, Public Enemy).
Recorded by Joe Trevino (Flaco Jimenez, Texmaniacs) at Blue Cat Studios, Keith Hanlon (Ed Askew, Scioto Records) at Musicol, and Don Cento at CenTones.

Mastered by Ian Sefchick at Capitol Studios.
Vinyl mastering by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio.

Strings arranged by Don Cento

Artwork by Jeb Loy Nichols

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Worried Songs Wallasey, UK

Heavenly Highway Hymns.

Record label based in New Brighton, UK exploring the American underground.

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