www.davidcarter.com

VIRGINIA BEACH SUN NEWSPAPER
"David Carter: Very Virginia Beach"
"Up Close And Personal" PART 1 OF 2
written by: Victoria Hecht - Editor, 6/13/97

If Virginia Beach were to name a songwriter laureate, no doubt it would be homegrown David Carter.  He's as "very Virginia Beach" as they come, and it shows in the artist's new release, "Two Hands Are Enough."  Cut four, "Somewhere Under This Moon," an ode to the oceanfront, was written on the back of a place mat while eating breakfast at the Belvedere Diner on 36th St. and Atlantic Ave.   Allusions to Hampton Roads sights and sounds -- the boardwalk, Ocean Eddie's, Second Street restaurant -- are woven throughout homespun lyrics.

But if Carter seems to have been missing from the musical spotlight lately, it's because the artist has "shifted gears," as he describes it, and gained "a renewed focus" on his career.  "It's the best decision I've ever made," he said.  "For the last 20 years, I have spent my days and nights putting smiles on people's faces as an entertainer, but now I want to put smiles on their faces as a songwriter."  Carter's first CD in 1994, "A Warm Summer Night," was recorded live at the Beach.  Featuring crowd-pleasing favorites, it was well received by Hampton Roads listeners eager to take home a sampling of Carter's cover songs.   "Two Hands Are Enough," which he calls a "transitional CD," shifts the focus to he songwriting abilities.  The collection spans 20 years of Carter's career.

"My songwriting has grown a lot in the last several years," he said.   "I attribute to a lot of person growth.  Musically, I had fallen into a burnout stage.  But Dave Mathews' music really opened the doors for me.  He breaks all the rules, no formula."  Carter's life is his music.  Whether kicking back with friends on the deck of the Island Republic or enjoying a moonlight stroll in the sand, his songs are firmly planted in the Beach experience.  His unique writing style, as he described it, is "much like Dave Mathews meets Van Morrison meets James Taylor with a splash of Jimmy Buffett on the lyrical side."

Among his favorite tracks on the new CD are "Somewhere Under this Moon," and "Maybe She's Right."  The latter was written about a girl who ran a general store near Carter's mountain cabin in Amherst county.  After writing her a letter, the artist kept checking his mailbox for a reply.  None ever came.  The song, originally titled "Maybe She'll Write," was then set aside.  Carter finished it after the grand opening party at Virginia Beach's Bayou, renaming it "Maybe She's Right."  " 'Somewhere Under This Moon,' "Maybe She's Right' and Thinking of You' are more an introspective approach.  It seems like I'm either deeply philosophical or light-hearted humor.  The way I write is kind of like publishing your diary.  Once I had a friend, an counselor who told me that music was like my religion -- like my spirit."

Carter's job is never truly work.  "It's like my R-and-R (rest and relaxation), I go in, see all my friends that I've known forever and get up to sing.  It's like having all my friends over for a football game," he mused.  A graduate of First Colonial High School who's been on the local music scene since high school, Carter said everything seems to be "coming together" for the best.  "A big vote of confidence of recent was Corona Extra Beer sponsoring my summer weekend performances a Island Republic on 19th street," he said.  "It's nice because I'm finally getting recognized for the songwriting."

Carter has sold CDs as far as Surrey, England and received several fan letters about his latest endeavors.  Next month he'll be opening for the Jerry Garcia Band in Richmond.   These days Carter is shooting for the stars.  "the world to me is totally open," he reflected.  "For some reason, this area is perceived as having an invisible ceiling for musicians.  I think the musicians create their own invisible ceilings.  Bit I'm not going to worry too much about this area -- just focus on the whole spectrum.  Throw some spaghetti against the wall and whatever sticks, sticks.   You won't get anything accomplished if you don't put it out there."   Carter isn't the type to "sweat" things.  Kind of like the sailboats sliding across the water he sings about in "Maybe She's Right," he lets his life blow him in the direction fate demands.

I went through a phase for a long time where I kept a side job that I called my main job -- just to make me feel good about myself while I was making my real money singing.   You have to learn to rely on fate.  You can be sitting here on month, looking at the next month, and only have two dates booked.  Eventually, I learned not to worry about it because come the first day of that month I'll have more than I want."   Carter doesn't forget the sage advice of his grandmother, when he says was the most influential of his career.  "Once when I was discussing my concerns about the economic aspects of a musical career with my grandmother, she told me something that I have never forgotten.  She said, 'David, no matter how tough times get, people will always pat to be entertained.  Through the power of your entertaining them, you allow them to be distracted from whatever suffering the may be experiencing in their everyday life.  When the Great Depression came and you grandfather lost his store, he paid all our bills by playing tuba in the symphony."  "I have learned she was right," Carter said.

Contact information:
David Carter, c/o Mid-Atlantic Records
P.O. Box 4025, Virginia Beach, VA 23454-0025   (757) 581-6480
e-mail: midatlanticmusic@aol.com
Copyright 1996-2002, David R. Carter, Sr

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