Brock Davis – Everyday Miracle

Somewhere along life’s hard highway singer songwriter Brock Davis stumbled upon a feeling and a music sensibility he jokingly describes as ‘agnostic gospel’.

“It’s not about religion or music genre”, the Santa Cruz, California based artist is quick to point out. “But there’s a beauty and power in wrestling with the mystery of life, and in the yearning for there to be something bigger than ourselves. I don’t claim to know what’s out there, but I’m fascinated by songs about a greater purpose in life, like love and art, that try to answer the essential question of why we are here”.

Brock reflects these rays of light back on his latest album, “Everyday Miracle”. The 13 song album is subtitled “(Backstage Sessions Part 1)” and contains the 1st half of a set of songs Brock and his band recorded at Nashville’s Backstage Studio over the course of 2 intense days. Part 2 will be released in early 2025.

Brock is a songwriter who looks at life with a gleam in his eye, with the hard won knowledge that pain leads to growth, and with growth comes new beginnings. His songs are cut from a worn denim blend of country and folk washed over with anthemic rock’n’roll. As a lyricist, Brock snapshots moments of daily living, and his words brim with picturesque imagery, poetic life insights, clever turns of phrases, and heartfelt sincerity, and he sings with a sweet country urgency.

Brock’s previous album, “A Song Waiting To Be Sung”, was a global success, hitting number # 5 on the Euro Americana Chart and earning enthusiastic reviews around the world. Sweden’s Baretta Magazine says, “‘A Song Waiting To Be Sung’ is a small masterpiece”. Americana Highways calls it, “A quality country album, with thoughtful emotion, compelling vocals, and vibrant harmonies”, while Canada’s Rock Doctor blog writes, “A combination of intelligent, deeply personal, emotionally honest songs and a warm, inviting voice along with frankly superior musicianship make ‘A Song Waiting To Be Sung’ a must have”.

Brock’s traumatic childhood growing up in a small mill town near Vancouver, Canada was a lot like a hard luck country song. Early on, music became his salvation, and he went after it like a wide eyed romantic. Bruce Springsteen was a formative influence and spurred on by the fever behind the “Born In The USA” record, and too many readings of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’, Brock hit the highway as a teenager to follow Bruce on tour. But hitchhiking and sleeping rough in strange cities, eventually got the best of him. “I was running out of money, I was tired, and I was lonely, I missed my sweetheart. So with a silent apology to Jack Kerouac, I spent the rest of my money on a Greyhound Bus ticket and beat it back to Vancouver”, Brock recalls.

Brock began working professionally as a musician starting in his early teens and spent many years performing and recording before taking a hiatus from music to raise a family. His previous album marked a triumphant return.

“Everyday Miracle” picks up where Brock’s last album left off with an uplifting set of songs about life after a hard reset. The emotional heart of the album is “Rain Falling On The Water”. Built around elegant fingerstyle guitars and Brock’s soulfully weary vocals, the song soars to redemption with a gospel choir joining in with the sing along refrain, “We are rain falling on the water, coming home again”.

The album’s title track is modern country, flowing over with hushed awe as it surveys the beauty of daily living. One standout passage is, “There’s a promise in these chords. There must be something more. Cause from nothing, beauty’s born. A little proof of a bigger truth”.

A pent up tension courses through “It Just Takes One” as the band masterfully blends elements reminiscent of The Police with a country rock vibe. The song is about speaking out against sexual harassment in the workplace, and Brock wrote it with his wife who bravely shared her own experiences with him.

The songs “Angela (Please Say Yes)” and “My Promise To You” form a love story set. The former is a gorgeous piano ballad wedding proposal in song, and the latter is Brock’s wedding vows set to a breezy country tune. “My wife loves grand romantic gestures, so I knew I wanted to ask her to marry me with a song. But I barely made it past the first line before I started crying, and then that set her off crying as well. She did say yes, though”, Brock laughs.

The winsome folk infused song, “The Warrior”, was inspired by a photographic print of an old, battle scarred mustang that Brock purchased at an arts and crafts fair. The true story behind the print is of a career salesman who found his love of photography after being laid off and replaced. “He recognized he had something in common with the old horse who had been forced out of his band by a younger challenger. They were both warriors in their own ways”, Brock says.

“Everyday Miracle” was produced by Brock along with Grammy award winning engineer Zach Allen (Keb Mo’, Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram) who also mixed it. Here, Brock is backed by a band of world class musicians who have been working together for years and have developed a telepathic musical chemistry. The group is made up of A list Nashville session players whose credits include work with Bob Seger, Tim McGraw, Stevie Nicks, Blake Shelton, Lori McKenna and Eric Church among many others.

Writing and recording “Everyday Miracle” has been artistically and personally inspirational for Brock. “Many artists and writers buy into the idea that the best songs come from a broken heart”, Brock says. “While pain can certainly produce a beautiful creation, so can love. You can create from a place of hope, wonder, and love, and it seems to me that creation is a true everyday miracle”.