It’s 2005 and the time for healing has begun. Who better to unite a divided nation than the Mayor of the East Bay, Bart Davenport, one of the truest troubadours of our times. To those who know that the time for love is now, Bart presents Maroon Cocoon, a home recorded masterpiece in the tradition of Emmit Rhodes, Shuggie Otis, and Paul McCartney’s solo debut.

Recorded in strict adherance to 8-Track Analog by housemate Sam Flax Keener (a mean woodwinds conributor and singer/songwriter in his own right) and mixed by longtime Collaborator/Producer Jon Erickson (Greyboy, Preston School of Industry, Les Sans Cullottes) Maroon Cocoon takes a pretty radically different approach than Bart’s previous albums. Recording at home gave BD the oppportunity to try some things he had wanted to do for quite some time: for starters, he has dropped the drum kit altogether for a balance of lush acoustic numbers and a few heavier cuts featuring Tony Sevener (of Quannum artists Honeycut and General Electrics) rocking the beats on a classic MPC drum machine. The result is Bart’s most stripped-down and personal record to date.

For a singer/songwriter to get all introverted and drum-machine oriented is certainly nothing new, people like Phil Collins and Shuggie Otis immediately spring to mind. But this is Bart Davenport, still able to soulfully tell a story worth hearing, all the while proudly wearing his wide range of influences without ever getting derivative. Whether it’s the plaintive tributes to British Folk of Welcome to the Show and Paper Friend, the lyrically beguiling shout-out to Catano Veloso’s Tropicalia/Political Exile period of Clara, or his totally faithful, totally poignant cover of the Hard Place’s LA Girls, Maroon Cocoon covers a lot of stylistic ground without ever moving an inch; Bart’s still right there, humbly strumming and singing as though you’re the only one in the audience.

He can sell you a bill of love that from anyone else would seem corny and make you believe again – in the long summers of blissful youth, in dancing the night away. You may have seen Bart Davenport fronting the electro future- funk trio called Honeycut, or you may have heard their song “Exodus Honey” in a 2007 iMac ad. Perhaps you caught his one man Folk Rock show between the trees and beards of Big Sur or in England, Spain or Germany. Bart Davenport is a singer-songwriter troubadour who wears his passionate love of West Coast Pop on his sleeve. His songs have captivated audiences worldwide for years, dating back to his time as a frontman for Oakland Garage/Blues combo The Loved Ones.

Bart Davenport’s early musical development was shaped by his mother’s love of British folk and his father’s gigs as an avid record store clerk during the day and bassist in the Oakland/Richmond blues scene by night. By age 14 Bart was sneaking out of the house to sit in on blues jams on his own. After several years fronting San Francisco club favorites the Loved Ones and later the Kinetics with childhood friend Xan McCurdy (now playing with Cake), Bart picked up the acoustic guitar and went the solo route. In 2000, he teamed with old friend Eric Shea to found and co-host the Monday Night Hoot at San Francisco’s Cafe DuNord, an “invitation-only open mike” that was a starting point for many performers in the neo-folk scene, including a young Devendra Banhart.

Bart’s first three solo releases (2002’s Bart Davenport, 2003’s Game Preserve, and 2005’s Maroon Cocoon) established him as a musician’s musician, with an avid Bay Area following. His captivating live shows have earned him tours of the US West Coast and Germany opening for the Kings of Convenience, while his five solo tours of Spain have won him rave reviews in the Spanish press and a devoted following that’s almost religious in its fervor.

Bart Davenport’s willingness to experiment is evident in the work he’s done as frontman and co-writer for avant-electro group Honeycut, a self-described “studio side-project” whose 2006 debut album The Day I Turned to Glass (released on Quannum Projects) met with critical acclaim and an instant popularity that propelled them to the US festival circuit. With Honeycut on the back burner in late 2007, Bart turned his attention to creating his fourth solo album, Palaces (2008).