Album Review: 'Goin' All Out' by Dan Evans
'Biggest Loser' Contestant Makes Contemporary Country with Pop Edge
Jan 27, 2009
When one pops a copy of Dan Evans’ debut CD, Goin’ All Out, into an iTunes player, the term “Rock” automatically pops up beneath the genre category. But that adjective is only a small part of the 11-song album’s story.
In fact, per the singer-songwriter, the new EMG-distributed disc is a country release, albeit contemporary country, with a rockin’ edge that can’t be denied, beginning with its driving title track and first single, Goin’ All Out, that was penned by Evans, 22, and Nashville-based songwriter Stephanie Lewis, ASCAP’s 2002 Songwriter of the Year.
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For the Frankfort, Ill., native and fan favorite from season five of the popular The Biggest Loser TV show, Goin’ All Out is not only the namesake of his freshman release, but also his daily mantra and new-found mindset.
In a recent interview with Suite 101 during a Nashville stopover, Evans said that Goin’ All Out, the song, came about during a get-acquainted meeting with one of the CD’s co-producers, Tom Kimball, and his songwriter-wife Lewis, who wound up collaborating with Evans for much of the disc’s material.
“It was the first night I was there to meet them,” shared Evans, who lost 136 pounds as a contestant on The Biggest Loser show, “and (Kimball and Lewis) said for me just to share with them where I’m at, and I said, ‘You know, I just want to go for this thing. I want to get to heart of the album. I want to live this dream. I’m goin’ all out!’ And he goes, ‘Dan, that’s a song!’”
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Propelled, in part, by his popularity on the NBC show, Evans’ CD landed at No. 7 on the Top Current Country Album Charts of Billboard and at No. 57 on its all-genre Top 200 rankings following its Sept. 30, 2008, national release. The CD also debuted in the No. 5 spot on the Christian/Gospel-Mainstream Retail Overall chart, according to Soundscan.
In addition to input from veteran engineer/producer Kimball—who’s worked with Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire and Toby Keith, among others—and wordsmith Lewis, Evans also called on the producing talent of Russ DeSalvo and Dave Berg, 2008 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, to help him write for the edgy-country music project.
“The entire album, we (wrote) all those songs after the (Biggest Loser) show,” said Evans, who plays both piano and guitar. “I’d been writing before, but I thought it was a new era in my life (since dropping from 310 to 174 pounds), and for the new album, I wanted to start fresh.”
Aside from its title track, which Evans recently shot a video for in downtown Nashville, the determined artist also penned Letter to My Addiction (Free at Last), a song that boasts impressive duality in its lyrical interpretation for those familiar with Evans’ life-transforming victory over self-esteem issues that dogged his music career’s progression, as well as Here I Am, All That's In My Head and Go On.
Goin' All Out Album Boasts Country-Pop Edge, Contemporary Feel
Although traditional country fans will find nary a bit of fiddle or steel guitar among the record’s tracks, fans of pop- and rock-infused country may find that Evans’ acoustic-based music resonates well alongside today’s generation of commercial-country artists, such as Jimmy Wayne, Rascal Flatts or Kellie Pickler, to name but three.
Similarly, his new-country sound also may find a home with music fans who seek ”wide-open highway driving” country by artists such as Lone Star favorite Wade Bowen, The Eagles or even the California-influenced country sound of Modern West, which is fronted by actor Kevin Costner.
Evans’ vocal delivery is honest and pleasing, and always earnest. He’s invested much into the still-evolving project, and even likens its creation to giving birth and watching a child grow.
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“Since the moment the album was cut and they took it away, I’ve learned things about the songs that I didn’t even know, just from me just listening to it (since recording it),” he said. “And now, taking it on the road and touring, playing it for people across the country, and people writing feedback, e-mailing about the songs, I am learning new things about the songs.”
Where I Need to Go, for example, is a song whose meaning has achieved a new dimension for the performer, since he cut the number.
Reflecting on the track, Evans soulfully sang a piece of the tune aloud—Well, is it gonna rain tomorrow—paused for a brief moment, and then remarked, “That song, for me, has taken new shape. You know, what I thought about it when I recorded it, from then to now, that has changed. Traveling down the road … it has a whole new meaning in my heart.”
Several months into touring, he continued, “Now when I sing it, I sing it from a whole new stance. The album is growing; it’s almost as if the album is a child. I gave birth to it in the basement of my producer’s house when we started writing the first song, and now I would say it’s just a small child at best, if that. But it’s taking shape.”
For more information on Evans or to sample the music from Goin’ All Out, please access www.danevansmusic.com.
- Readers interested in this story may also enjoy Dan Evans' New CD Debuts in Country's Top 10.
Sources
Dan Evans Lands in the Top 10 of Billboard's Top Country Albums Chart with Debut Release Goin' All Out, Oct. 15, 2008, press release, courtesy of Wortman Works.
Personal communication, Dan Evans, Nov. 25, 2009.
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