Biography
Throughout his musical journey, Bart Davenport has embodied numerous personas, from garage rocker in the Loved Ones to smooth modern soul crooner in Honeycut and onward as a solo performer whose catalog of unexpected stylistic shifts—spanning '70s soul, dance music, bossa nova, and psych pop—keeps his trajectory unpredictable. His initial solo outings, beginning with 2003's Game Preserve, often explored soft rock conventions while highlighting his honeyed lead vocals and meticulous songcraft. Subsequent projects such as 2018's Blue Motel, credited to Bart & the Bedazzled, incorporated '80s pop sophistication into that foundation. Even after two decades in music, predicting the contents of a Bart Davenport album remained difficult, as demonstrated by the folk/rock-inspired, 12-string-driven Episodes that arrived in 2022.
Davenport launched his independent path in the early 2000s, synthesizing soft rock, classic rock, and singer/songwriter inspirations that included Thin Lizzy, Al Stewart, and James Taylor into silky-smooth, laid-back indie pop compositions. Antenna Farm Records issued his self-titled debut in 2002, followed by two further releases on the label—Game Preserve and Maroon Cocoon—across the next three years. These early efforts displayed his velvety vocal prowess alongside a loungey, retro sensibility that evoked Call & Response, the Bees, and, during folk-leaning passages, the Kings of Convenience.
After Maroon Cocoon, Davenport paused solo activity to concentrate on Honeycut, which gained modest mainstream notice when one track appeared in a 2007 Apple iMac commercial. He soon returned to individual projects, however, delivering his fourth studio album, Palaces, in 2008. Between late 2010 and early 2011 he issued a burst of recordings: the Tapete covers collection Searching for Bart Davenport, another Honeycut album titled Comedians, and With All Due Respect by his new side project the Incarnations. In 2012 he reunited with Maroon Cocoon producer Sam Flax for the dance-tinged single "Someone2Dance."
Following his 2012 relocation to L.A., Davenport assembled a new ensemble with bassist Jessica Espeleta, Dream Boys guitarist Wayne Faler, keyboardist Nathan Lee Shafer, and drummer Paul Burkhart to track his fifth solo album. Lovemonk and Burger released the soft rock-inflected Physical World in early 2014. Much of the same lineup, now operating as Bart & the Bedazzled and augmented by drummer Andres Renteria after Shafer and Burkhart departed, reconvened for the next effort, produced by L.A. Takedown's Aaron M. Olson. Issued in 2018, Blue Motel offered another soft rock-inspired, '80s sophisti-pop statement polished by Olson's glossy production and synth textures. The same musicians also cut the dance pop singles "People Person" and "Cardboard Man," produced by Nic Hessler and featuring Earth Girl Helen Brown on vocals. Davenport resumed solo work with 2022's Episodes on Tapete, an album tracked in his home studio that emphasized folk-rock leanings through abundant 12-string guitar jangle, Baroque string arrangements by Dina Maccabee, and material ranging from solo acoustic ballads and bossa nova to jaunty psych-pop and surf-y instrumentals. Percussionist Andres Renteria and drummer Graeme Gibson contributed alongside longtime collaborators Espeleta on bass and Faler on guitar.
Davenport launched his independent path in the early 2000s, synthesizing soft rock, classic rock, and singer/songwriter inspirations that included Thin Lizzy, Al Stewart, and James Taylor into silky-smooth, laid-back indie pop compositions. Antenna Farm Records issued his self-titled debut in 2002, followed by two further releases on the label—Game Preserve and Maroon Cocoon—across the next three years. These early efforts displayed his velvety vocal prowess alongside a loungey, retro sensibility that evoked Call & Response, the Bees, and, during folk-leaning passages, the Kings of Convenience.
After Maroon Cocoon, Davenport paused solo activity to concentrate on Honeycut, which gained modest mainstream notice when one track appeared in a 2007 Apple iMac commercial. He soon returned to individual projects, however, delivering his fourth studio album, Palaces, in 2008. Between late 2010 and early 2011 he issued a burst of recordings: the Tapete covers collection Searching for Bart Davenport, another Honeycut album titled Comedians, and With All Due Respect by his new side project the Incarnations. In 2012 he reunited with Maroon Cocoon producer Sam Flax for the dance-tinged single "Someone2Dance."
Following his 2012 relocation to L.A., Davenport assembled a new ensemble with bassist Jessica Espeleta, Dream Boys guitarist Wayne Faler, keyboardist Nathan Lee Shafer, and drummer Paul Burkhart to track his fifth solo album. Lovemonk and Burger released the soft rock-inflected Physical World in early 2014. Much of the same lineup, now operating as Bart & the Bedazzled and augmented by drummer Andres Renteria after Shafer and Burkhart departed, reconvened for the next effort, produced by L.A. Takedown's Aaron M. Olson. Issued in 2018, Blue Motel offered another soft rock-inspired, '80s sophisti-pop statement polished by Olson's glossy production and synth textures. The same musicians also cut the dance pop singles "People Person" and "Cardboard Man," produced by Nic Hessler and featuring Earth Girl Helen Brown on vocals. Davenport resumed solo work with 2022's Episodes on Tapete, an album tracked in his home studio that emphasized folk-rock leanings through abundant 12-string guitar jangle, Baroque string arrangements by Dina Maccabee, and material ranging from solo acoustic ballads and bossa nova to jaunty psych-pop and surf-y instrumentals. Percussionist Andres Renteria and drummer Graeme Gibson contributed alongside longtime collaborators Espeleta on bass and Faler on guitar.
Albums
Singles
