Dave's True Story

Dave's True Story seemed to some an unlikely combination, pitching together three disparate musicians - singer Kelly Flint, guitarist and songwriter David Cantor and double bass player Jeff Eyrich - of contrasting musical backgrounds from different areas of the USA and creating a sultry jazz style that has been dubbed 'lounge noir'. Cantor grew up in Long Island, New York with dreams of a great career as a novelist/playwrite, but when that didn't look like it was going to work out, he put his gift for vivid storytelling into songwriting. Meanwhile, Flint had gravitated to New York from the mid-west of Indiana and, singing at open mic sessions at the Speakeasy, accelerated her desire for a career in music in the image of her hero Joni Mitchell.

Flint and Cantor met in 1989 when they were hanging out with the Fast Folk Musical Group songwriting collective and, looking for material to perform herself, Flint started learning Cantor songs, even though she didn't initially connect with his jazz style. They ended up visiting a folk festival together purely as punters, but wound up on stage singing a couple of Cantor's off beat jazzy tunes and received such a positive reaction that they were encouraged to start gigging together. They went on to form Dave's True Story in 1994, released a self-titled album on their own label Be-Bop and won the Kerrville New Music Award in 1995.

Flint met Californian double bassist Jeff Eyrich who was so impressed by her atmospheric performances of Cantor's songs that he moved from the west coast to the east to join the duo. Building a devoted cult following with avid support from the critics, the new line-up resulted in their third album 'Sex Without Bodies' in 1998 followed by 'Unauthorised' in 2000. Their popularity increased further with their 2005 album 'Nature', resulting in two of their songs 'Crazy Eyes' and 'Sequinned Mermaid's Dress' being featured in the movie 'Kissing Jessica Stein'. They were later joined by drummer Richard Zukor, but effectively split in 2007, with Flint launching a solo career with the album 'Drive All Night'.