Boomtown

The lost gem and the genius of David and David.

Irony had not yet come to define Gen X in 1986. So the two guys who make up the duo David & David both being named David didn’t garner a smirk, but more of a nod as if to say:

“OK, I get it. Let’s hear what you got.”

David & David are David Baerwald and David Ricketts and they released one helluva microphone dropping album in 1986 titled Boomtown. Both are songwriters and multi-instrulmentalists who handled the majority of heavy lifting on the album, with drums handled by Ed Greene.

For much of its history, Los Angeles functioned as the quintessential American boomtown. Be it regional or intercontinental, like so many “boomtowns,” and America as a whole, its success was built from transplants. The two Davids were no different. Baerwald was from Ohio and Ricketts hailed from Pennsylvania.

By 1986, Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America,” was proving to be far cloudier than promised and the boom was just beginning to go bust. It was becoming apparent that the promise of Reagonomics — the rising tide that would lift all boats — wasn’t working out. The David’s tapped into their roots and surroundings to craft songs about some of these characters.

The tracks on Boomtown are less songs and…