Biography

Contact Dave Insley
email lonesome@daveinsley.com
website www.daveinsley.com
phone 480-250-7805

Dave Insley's Careless Smokers perform every Saturday at the White Horse Saloon in Austin Texas,from 8 til 10pm

Born in Kansas and raised in Arizona, Dave Insley has lived the last dozen years in Austin, Texas, where he performs regularly with his band the Careless Smokers. Insley hit the ground running back in Phoenix in 1983 with his cowpunk group Chaingang, serving time thereafter in Politics or Pontiacs, Nitpickers, and the Trophy Husbands, before going on his own in 2005 with the release of his solo debut, Call Me Lonesome.

Here With You Tonight followed in 2006 and West Texas Wine in 2008, and Insley developed a reputation for his distinctive baritone and unique writing. Fans waited eight years for the 2016 release of Insley’s latest, Just The Way That I Am, and they have not been disappointed; The album reveals an artist at the peak of his powers – at once vulnerable, authoritative and mildly amused.


RELEASES:

Call Me Lonesome(2005)
Insley's celebrated debut presents a pleasing mixture of old-school country sounds and timeless themes of love and loss, balanced with modern sensibilities and Insley's quirky sense of humor. Clarinets blend seamlessly with steel guitars, and a detached sense of irony prevails throughout the proceedings.




Just The Way That I Am (2016)
Insley's latest release fulfills the promise offered by his earlier work; this is the perfect creation of a modern master, at the peak of his form. Imagine the best 1970's country that you never heard, and you'll start to get the idea...




West Texas Wine (2008)
Recorded live in the studio with Insley's road band, the Careless Smokers, West Texas Wine is Insley's grittiest and darkest album. But even in his darkest hour Insley can't resist poking fun or cracking wise, and the resulting album is a crisp, ironic take on country heartache, love and loss.




Here With You Tonight (2006)
Insley reveals his romantic side with an album that feels almost like a date. Unhurried storytelling at it's finest.


About Dave Insley:
Insley spent his childhood near the tiny farm town of Chapman, Kansas, until Dave's family relocated to Arizona, when he was twelve.

During his high school and college years, Insley played in country and rock bands, and in 1983 his cowpunk group Chaingang debuted in Tempe, Arizona. Later, he moved to Flagstaff and ran a tongue-in-cheek folk-rock outfit called Politics or Pontiacs.

Insley’s next project was the Nitpickers, a Tempe-based bluegrass band, followed by the Trophy Husbands, who released two country records and toured the US. Insley released his solo debut, Call Me Lonesome in 2005, and was named by the Arizona Republic newspaper as "Arizona’s Best Songwriter." The CD made Third Coast Music's Top 10 Debuts of 2005.

Insley relocated to Austin a decade ago and released Here With You Tonight, debuting at Number One on the FAR chart and garnering praise from former Downbeat editor and Village Voice contributor Nat Hentoff, who wrote that Insley “immediately held my attention not by showboating, but through naturally flowing rhythms, and stories of everyday life and loss, told in a warm, unhurried and sometimes wry voice of experience.” In 2008, Insley released his grittiest album, West Texas Wine, which Good Sound called “Zen Country,” crediting Insley with “leaving melodramatic self-indulgence out of the picture.”

In the eight years since West Texas Wine Insley has done a lot of livin,' and survived to tell his tale; Just The Way That I Am is a chronicle of that journey, told with authority and maturity, but not without whimsy and humor.

Dave has 4 children and still lives in Austin. He performs every Saturday night, from 8 til 10pm, at the White Horse Saloon.