Roger Davies is a West Yorkshire songsmith with a delicate touch. You are more than likely to be instantly taken by his cool delivery and easy going relaxed stage presence. This is because there's a certain unpatronising warmth about a performer who refers to his audience as his 'gang', and consequently, you seem to enfold yourself within his circle, not kicking, not screaming.
Roger takes his birthright seriously, and there is an abundance of affectionate songs centred around his hometown of Brighouse and surrounding area. Roger's Huddersfield Town captures this essence in the same manner but manages to avoid it being just a pastiche of that particular style of writing. Northern Trash despite its confrontational title (to a Donny lad that is), still maintains the 'affectionate' aspect of his writing about home.
There's nothing long and drawn out or with any excessive multi chorus's in Roger Davies' songs, they're all pretty short and sweet and to the point. During his two club length sets at Bob Chiswick's Monday Music Club at The Regent, he managed to pack in a total of twenty-three songs of which there were only two covers, Bernard Wrigley's tribute to Dame Nellie Melba (no, not Kate Rusby Mr Harding) in Knocking Nellie and a Hugh Moffat song made popular by the late Johnny Cash, Rose of My Heart. The rest were all his.
"When Roger walked on stage to a sold out Square Chapel in Halifax, it quickly became obvious why this self styled 'Yorkshire Songwriter' commands such a strong following. His songs are a reflection of the world around us. His lyrics can be funny, as in 'The Beerbelly Blues', thought provoking or, as in his tender ballad 'Stephanie', simply exquisite." Halifax Courier
