Denison Witmer

Item: Of Joy and Sorrow
Author: Tom Bastian

Of Joy and Sorrow

(2001)

Reviewed by Tom Bastian

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Label Burnt Toast VinylDecapolisJanuary 2002

folk singer-songwriter

Denison Witmer has been at it for years, bringing us his singer/songwriter tunes via his guitar and lonesome vocals. Denison currently resides in Philadelphia and this is his first full studio release on Burnt Toast Vinyl.

I have been working on this review in my mind since I received it quite a few months ago. Having the inside connection with the folks over at Burnt Toast Vinyl I had the opportunity to give some of the songs a listen as they were being recorded. The album's been out for a while, but I have just been waiting to get my thoughts together on this one. Denison is an artist who I have reviewed quite a few times already. With Denison I often find myself repeating myself from review to review. So I'm going to attempt to stay away from that with this review. If you're more interested in reading my thoughts on Denison and his music go read my other review of his 80's EP and first full length release. But the thing with his music is that it has a very similar feel from song to song, yet each tune seems to stand alone despite the similarities in sound.

With "Of Joy and Sorrow" Denison presents his most varied work to date. It's no longer just Denison and his guitar with the occasional guest appearance from Don Peris (Innocence Mission). This time around Denison teams up with quite a few friends. Everyone from Blake Wescott to Jesse Sprinkle from Shannon Stephens to Ben Brubaker. Each adding various backing vocals, bass guitar, 2nd guitar and drums and yes Don Peris does appear on this release. He even appears along with his wife Karen Peris (both of Innocence Mission) and her amazing vocals on the song "Rock Run".

I have been a fan of all of Denison's releases to date and I would say this is his best album yet. So what this all comes down to is this, "Of Joy and Sorrow" will definitely be making my top 10 albums of 2001 list, most likely taking its proper place somewhere in the top 5.

If you have yet to give Denison Witmer a listen and you're a fan of bands and musicians such as Red House Painters, Elliot Smith, Pedro the Lion and even Dashboard Confessional I would say you really need to do yourself a favor and give Denison a listen. Denison will bring you into his songs, tell you a story and leave you with a feeling that Denison is a close friend of yours.

A-