"Father Sky is heart-song medicine music for the masses by Milwaukee musician Anthony Deutsch.”

Young Milwaukee pianist-singer-composer Anthony Deutsch has old-soul wisdom and speaks to people about matters of the heart, and the mind/body disconnect that often separates us from our own nature and from Nature.

The style recalls the spare tunesmithing of The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson, bolstered by Father Sky bassist John Christensen and drummer Devin Drobka. But Deutsch loves Nina Simone. His bluesy-gospel singing deeply abides her forlorn, loamy eloquence—her world-weary persistence and faith. To me, he also mirrors the exquisite jazz singer-pianist Andy Bey—the naked willingness to reveal male vulnerability.

Still, Deutsch’s Father Sky-meets-Mother Earth sensibility tends a personal ecological vision, like someone picking bits of grimy dust out of a spider’s web. Deutsch croons, but his spacious baritone sometimes projects like a wolf howling at the moon. He leans on the sustain pedal and major keys, but the piano also dapples sun-lit atmospherics. “Soon, My Love” has a funky kick Gil Scott-Heron would dig. “Gonna Find Home” yearns for a home that’s everywhere, like the holy land Lakota Black Elk spoke of. This beguiling talent might just take you away, home.

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With four studio albums and a procession of singles in his wake, songwriter John Davey sets a new pace in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan’s central city, Marquette. The Indiana native has called Marquette’s milieu and picturesque surroundings home for 10 years. Home informs the language and sound of his tuneful songs; a blend of indie folk with rock, pop, and country influences.