D.C. Bloom earns laughs and Texan status

May 5, 3:19 PM

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Texans love songs written especially for them, about things only they would understand. This could be because our egos are bigger than everyone elses, or our state is so big we have a ton of things to sing about. 

D.C. Bloom, an Ohio native, slipped into the Texas singer/songwriter genre and has earned his title well. It's very hard to get locals to call you a Texan if your birth certificate isn't also from Texas. Bloom does it with flying colors, with songs like "Manu Ginobli" and "The Ballad of Boerne and Alice". There's so much word play in his songs it's almost hard to catch some of his jokes. His songs also cause his audiences to think about memories and the way things used to be, specifically "Neon Signs" and "Acres to Plow". 

Starting out as a praise band performer in Virginia and then part of the Americana duet The Dog Waggers, Bloom moved to San Antonio to perform solo. When he got to Texas, he set a goal of writing one song for every city he could find.

Bloom's album, Simpler Times A-Wastin, is available now (check out the link below). Don't miss this local gem's witty and entertaining songs!

D.C. BLOOM....

Simpler Times A-Wastin’....

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DCBLOOM....

In a former life, D.C. Bloom was a
Washington, D.C.-based speechwriter, plying his trade for, among others, the
F.B.I. But he also moonlighted as the frontman of a band of goofball folkies
called the Dog Waggers, and it’s that lighter side of Bloom that’s showcased on
his debut solo album and first recording since moving to San Antonio in 2004. Simpler
Times A-Wastin’ might not win over serious folk Nazis, but it takes a cold,
cold heart not to grin and dig it for the fun-loving time it is. “I Can’t
Forget the Alamo” carjacks “I’ve Been Everywhere” for a joyride through his new
hometown, and the Tex-Mex-ified “Ice Box on the Fritz” plays like the Sir
Douglas Quintet with plumber’s crack. Bloom does earnest pretty good, too, as
demonstrated by the tribute to his father, “Acres to Plow” (featuring guests
Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines). But irreverent is what Bloom really does best.
Well, that, and kiss up to the home team: the Spurs-loving “Manu Ginobili”
really should earn the guy the key to the Alamo city. — RICHARD SKANSE....

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Music Reviews ..

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Band: D.C. BLOOM

Album: Simpler Times A-Wastin’

Label:  Self-Released

 

 

 

 

The Texas music scene is one that is steeped rich in traditions and the San Antonio area
is an area of Texas that takes their music seriously so as an outsider
you have a tough job ahead of you when trying to break into their
world. That was the uphill battle that D.C. Bloom was facing when he
made the move from Ohio via a stint in DC to Texas. However, with
“Simpler Times A-Wastin,” he has solidified himself as one of their own
and has been adopted by the state and the music community. Using Texas
players, producers, and artists on the album set him on the right path
from the get-go. “Acres to Plow” opens the album with guest spots from Lloyd Maines and Terri Hendrix
and quickly raises an eyebrow and makes people listen a little more
than they may have. But as you dive further into the album you see a
simple style of folk blended country coming from your speakers as DC
Bloom touches on a variety of subjects from online dating on “The
Ballad of Boerne and Alice” to a beautiful girl who wows the guys on
“Headturner From Texarkana.” What Bloom does very well though is that
he never forgets to include San Antonio on these songs from the tongue and cheek “I Can’t Forget The Alamo,” to “Manu Ginobili,” an ode of sorts to the San Antonio Spurs
and one of their star players. Though this is not a mainstream country
album by any stretch of the imagination it certainly serves its purpose
amongst the San Antonio/Austin country market and will easily find its
place alongside their homespun artists.

While D.C. Bloom doesn’t exactly relish the label, he understands why one might call him a “late bloomer” on the Texas music scene.  Yes, D.C. will admit, it took him a little over four decades to even get to the Lone Star State, despite the fact
that he has occasionally cited the ghost town of Nix, Texas as his birthplace.  But no, D.C.’s really an Ohio native, who spent years inside the D.C. Beltway and a stint in chilly New England before finally putting his boots on the ground in Texas.  And even then, it was another two or three years before he cranked out his solo debut, Simpler Times A-Wastin’.   So D.C. Bloom as the quintessential late
bloomer is more than a little legit.

D.C.’s journey from the Black Swamp land of northwest Ohio to the Texas Hill Country is as circuitous as his musical evolution.  He left the Buckeye State in his rear-view mirror in the late ‘70s to travel to the nation’s capital for a job with the
FBI, where he began as a humble data entry clerk and ended up writing speeches
for the Director.  Bloom next took his growing family to Boston, heeding the siren call of the private sector’s bigger paydays and earning a Master’s degree in Speech Communication from the esteemed Emerson College.  A return trip to D.C. four years later put him back in the business of putting words in the mouths of policymakers and movers and shakers in banking and housing finance.  It wasn’t until the late ‘90s, when – on a whim and the suggestion of a co-worker who detected a lack of true passion in Bloom’s false calling – that he signed up for a songwriting workshop at the Kerrville Folk Festival and began to string words and chords together in a format more to his liking than the day job 30-minute PowerPoint presentations that paid the mortgage.

Bloom next took his growing binder of original songs to Geoff Pemble, who played in the praise band at the church D.C. attended in Vienna, Virginia.  Pemble invited D.C. to join the God’s house band, which he did somewhat reluctantly, because contemporary Christian music didn’t necessarily ring his chimes.  But after the weekly rehearsals in the church sanctuary, Bloom and Pemble stayed on to work on D.C.’s secular songs, some of which probably never should have been sung anywhere near an altar.  In any event, the two soon formed an
Americana band called The Dog Waggers and self-produced a CD called “Chasin’ Tales,” which the good Lutherans of Northern Virginia scarfed up like fresh dog treats.  And some of them even figured out that the title was more about pursuing posteriors than penning poetry and prose for posterity. 

As his alphabetized binder continued to expand, Bloom dreamed of landing a cushy corporate gig that would finance his move to Texas and put him within easy driving distance of the sacred grounds of Kerrville.  Lightning finally struck in early 2004, and the headhunted D.C. would bid adieu to the Dog Waggers and travel south by southwest to San Antonio with his beat-up Tacoma guitar and a new dream – to get out there and perform on his own … and finally put out a CD all by his lonesome.

A little mishap on a mountain bike and a goat farm that resulted in a broken left wrist and pins being inserted in same slowed things down a bit, but the recuperation time also allowed D.C. to pen more tunes to his new home state.  “I have long wanted to be a Texas singer-songwriter,” Bloom acknowledges, “and I figured the best way to do that is to write a song about every town and city in the state.”  With atlas and guitar in hand, he added to the repertoire that would form the basis for many of the songs on STA-W. 

Bloom’s songs are chock full of witty wordplay and hand-hewn humor.  “It may not seem like it,” D.C. notes, “but I really do work at this silly stuff, ya know?”  Because not unlike the spin and obtuse soundbites that emanate from the real
D.C., there’s often more than one way to interpret D.C.’s lyrics.   Bloom paraphrases another fella who had a keen eye and an ability to masquerade truth in satire, saying, “Yep, I never met a double entendre I didn’t like.”

The songs on Simpler Times A-Wastin’ bear out D.C. Bloom’s unique way with words.  He sings of a headturning gal from Texarkana who much prefers men from Texas because when she’s with Arkansas guys “she can’t get her Little Rocks off.”  There’s the delightful “Ballad of Boerne and Alice,” which chronicles the on-line romance and the less-than-satisfying in-person hook-up of two residents of two Texas towns whose names sound a lot like where they’re from.   He takes a playful jab at the business community of the Alamo City on “I Can’t
Forget the Alamo,” ticking off the real and imagined names of San Antonio
enterprises that can’t resist the temptation to call themselves Alamo
something-or-other.  And on the jazz-boiled “Small Potatoes,” which features the beautiful acoustic guitar work of Maestro Aurora, D.C. offers homage to the virtues of organic farming, “diesel-powered cats in greasy trucker caps,” and the noble pursuits of common women and men.  The CD also includes two
tracks with his former bandmates, the Dog Waggers, including “Ice Box on the
Fritz,’ a bouncing Sir Doug-inspired romp about a refrigerator handyman with
more than repairs on his mind. 

But while it’s D.C.’s light-hearted repartee that draws the listener in, there’s also a deeper, more reflective and thoughtful side to his songwriting that touches on universal themes such as family or longing for deeper connections.  On “Acres to Plow,” which features the harmonies of Terri Hendrix and the steel guitar of Lloyd Maines,” both of whom he first met at that defining Kerrville workshop, D.C. reminisces about his dairy farming father who would joyfully sing on his tractor all day long.  And on the haunting and sobering “Neon Signs,” which closes the CD, D.C draws the parallel between those once-buzzing storefront artifacts from earlier days that have “lost their way and their will to shine” and broken down people who cling to false hope and memories of bygone and fading love.

In short, Simpler Times A-Wastin’  is the aural equivalent of those precious plants that bloom infrequently, but beautifully.  Sometimes, in music and
nature alike, it is the rarity of the blooming that inspires awe … and there is
a thrilling poignancy in experiencing it in its moment.  D.C. Bloom needn’t apologize for being a late bloomer by any means, but let’s hope the next flowering of songs don’t take nearly as long to germinate and blossom, now that he’s escaped the bureaucratic gridlock of D.C. for the more conducive and creative climes of Central Texas.  Lew Penlow, Americana Minutes

I’m Dirty....

Words & Music, D.C. Bloom – Table or Booth Music, 2009

I’m dirty, plain dirty

Red dirt
dirty for you

Yeah I’m
dirty, so very dirty

Full of dirt
through and through

Dirt beneath
my fingernails, there’s dirt cuz I’m a manly male

I’m dirty,
so dirty

Dirty pool’s
the game I play, dirty words are what I say

I’m dirty,
real dirty

.. ..

I’m sloppy,
so sloppy

Some kinda
sloppy, it’s true

I’m sloppy,
very sloppy

Sloppy in
all I do

Sloppy with
my thinking, sloppy with my drinkin’

I’m sloppy,
so sloppy

I spill my
guts, I spill my drinks, I’m built to spill, that’s what I think

I’m sloppy,
so sloppy

.. ..
CHORUS:

Clean up, it’s time I clean up
my act

Clean up, gotta get some Godly
back

Cleanliness, yes it’s the next
best thing

But I’m
grungy, yeah I’m grungy

I was
grungy long before grunge was cool

I’m grungy,
quite grungy

Grungy even
now that grunge is old school

I’m grungy
in my flannel shirt, grungy with this 90s dirt

I’m grungy,
grungy

Grungy with
my greasy hair, grungy cuz I just don’t care

I’m grungy,
so grungy

And I’m
cruddy, so cruddy

Some kinda
cruddy, doncha know

I’m cruddy,
so very cruddy

Cruddy like
the bathrooms at a striptease show

Cruddy like
a garbage can, cruddy like your mini-van

I’m cruddy,
yeah I’m cruddy

The crud is
there between my toes, even crud up in my nose

I’m cruddy,
oh yes I’m cruddy

CHORUS

So I’m
scrubbing, and rub-a-dubbing

Gonna be
like Mr. Clean

I’m bathing,
it’s so amazing

I never knew
that hygiene could be so keen

I dipped and
doused and rinsed and hosed

I’m sparkling
bright from head to toes

I’m
spotless, and speckless

Unsullied and
unsoiled now, no stinky sweat upon my brow

I’m squeaky,
I’m squeaky clean!

Clean up, I really cleaned up my
act

Clean up, I finally got my Godly
back

Cleanliness, yes it’s the next
best thing… to Godliness … that’s what my Grandma always said