After encountering the Sugar Land native’s name in several music magazines and e-zines, I was compelled to sample his craft only a few short months ago. I was immediately taken with his unpretentious way of turning a phrase, blatantly displaying a vulnerability that few of us would dare to disclose publicly.

Unlike his past Strangetown EP and his American Soil album, the 29 year old songwriter concentrates more upon his own struggles and regrets in Apologies.

“It’s a lot less about heartbreak which is what I’m used to writing, but I wanted to try [new themes], yet there was a voice in the back of my mind saying ‘No, this is all you’re good for is that sad song guy,’ so I’m real proud of [Apologies]. I think I’ve grown a bit.”

Clearly his growth reflects in his sturdy song construction. In “An Introduction” for instance, Ramirez contemplates where Truth resides:

“I’ve stood in Roman cathedrals/ Prayed in Southern Baptist chapels/ I’ve never heard a voice so I ain’t paying a penny more/ Tell me where to find the Lord”

Reared in the Southern Baptist church and after dropping out of a small Christian college, Ramirez began playing his music in the small coffee houses and bars of Dallas where:

“ . . . I traded in my pew for a bar stool/Trying to find redemption in the mind of the youth/We’d sit tall with our cigarettes and disheveled uniforms/Oh I never, no I never saw the Lord”

Just as any great songwriter connects to an audience, connection is what seems to define Ramirez’s writing. I think it’s safe to say that many have witnessed truth and transparency when throwing back a cold Lone Star at the neighborhood tavern and when sipping Communion juice in a house of worship.

As Ramirez told me, “You’re lied to everywhere and you’re told the truth everywhere.”

In “Find the Light,” Ramirez seems to relinquish something dear to him, but the relinquishment is surrendered with the humility and appreciation that reminds me of the Psalmist King David. Although I can’t exactly pin-point what Ramirez had in mind when he wrote the song, I discovered the relevance of it in my life at just the right time for just the right occasion.

This past September I was asked to speak at a memorial service. With little time to prepare my words, and with the pressure and expectation looming over me, the right words wouldn’t manifest from my brain to the paper. I resolved that I had no choice but to improvise. Finally, at the 11th hour before leaving my home for the wake, I heard my i-Pod blaring the song that saved my afternoon. I quickly pushed the repeat arrow to make sure that I had heard the lyrics correctly.

“This is it! It’s perfect! I love it! They’ll love it!” I shouted to my reflection in the mirror. “Now if I can just find the words on-line . . .”

I found them. I proudly recited the lyrics with an expression that epitomized my late friend. Here’s a taste of the tune:

“ . . .I wish upon you a brave heart/That will always rise above/But most of all I wish upon you love/As the sun sets the moon begins to rise/So even in the darkness you’ll find the light . . .”

Friends and strangers approached me during the post-wake festivities inquiring about the author of “Find the Light”. I was happy to share the genius of David Ramirez with anyone willing to listen to me.

Had Ramirez written the song after the death of a loved one? Is he lamenting a break-up? The loss of a material possession?   I have no idea, but the song gave me and my fellow mourners the comfort we needed at the time. Consequently, I truly believe that The Divine had a hand in the outcome of my public speaking dilemma.

Like most creative writers, I think Ramirez expects his audience to interpret his words in ways that are most meaningful to them. How they interpret his works are the listeners’ secrets. Needless to say, Ramirez connected with many on that warm September afternoon who had never seen him or heard his music.

His gift is both a blessing and a curse.

“Yeah, I’m condemned [to write] for sure. It’s funny how quickly a hobby can turn into an addiction,” he told me before taking the stage. But he takes his condemnation in stride.

“I’m constantly taking notes about everything,” which he says is reflected in the maturity of his writing. “When I was younger, I thought I could just write once a month and wait for something to come to me,” but he has since disciplined himself in the same manner as one of his heroes Ryan Adams, the semi-retired soloist and former front man of the now defunct bands Whiskeytown and The Cardinals.

“ . . . You just have to sit down and write 2- 5 hours a day, and you can’t wait for that muse to just pop up and give it to you. [Songwriting] is that muscle that you keep working.”

A friend had given him a copy of Adams’ Gold which catapulted Ramirez’s love affair with independent music. Try revisiting Adams’ Heartbreaker and Jacksonville City Nights, and you might pick up on the similarities between the two artists.

With his back turned to the old dusty, red velvet backdrop curtain, Ramirez blew the dust off of “Shoeboxes,” his signature song from Strangetown.

“Ten years down the road . . . I reach behind my winter coat/And I stumble upon shoeboxes filled with ghosts . . .So I suppose you’ll be in every song I sing/If not written in my words, you’ll be hidden in these strings . . . It kills me to see you, but it kills me not to . . . “

Even the rudest audience members went silent as Ramirez expressed this one. The song must have retrieved a bittersweet memory that compelled them to cease texting and conversing about chili-stained shirts. I was surprised when the Fedora hat-clad man behind me finally went silent for the first time during the performance; perhaps he has a few dusty shoeboxes in his closet too.

Ramirez and his new love plan to respite for the next few months in west Texas. Perhaps a new love and a new residential setting will prime him with new material that he will bring to the studio in January. He said that his fans should expect to see him back on the road in February.

We eagerly await your next surprise, David!

Check out his music, videos and tour schedule at: www.davidramirezmusic.com