(Let' see how the new formatting works...)
First Appeared at The Music Box, September 2002, Volume 9, #9
Written by John Metzger
It might appear as if David Baerwald had sprung out of nowhere with his recent release Here Comes the New Folk Underground. But the fact of the matter is that Baerwald has been circling the music business for more than fifteen years. His initial success came in 1986 where, as one-half of the duo David & David, he charted with the single Welcome to the Boomtown. The band faded as quickly as it had emerged, leaving Baerwald on his own. Although in the early ’90s he released a pair of critically lauded solo albums (Bedtime Stories and Triage), both proved to be commercial flops. In 1993, however, Baerwald’s luck began to change. His contributions to Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club played a significant role in her rise to superstardom, and last year’s Golden Globe nomination for Come What May from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack relaunched his solo career.
Quite frankly, it couldn’t have come at a better time. No doubt, many will consider Baerwald merely to be following in the surprisingly successful footsteps of David Gray’s White Ladder — after all, the songs on Here Comes the New Folk Underground pave a similar, albeit richer, path of soulful folk-pop — but this is the type of music Baerwald has been writing for many, many years, only here he does it better than ever before. Throughout the disc, he draws on a wealth of artists from Randy Newman [If (A Boy Whore in a Man’s Jail)] to Jackson Browne (Why), from Van Morrison (Compassion) to Bob Dylan (Hellbound Train), tossing in just a hint of Wilco for good measure.
Indeed, the music Baerwald constructs around his songs is often sunny and ebullient — the hopeful bluegrass strains of Why, the soaring transcendence of The Crash, the slinky R&B of Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down — even as his lyrics delve into darker themes that reflect the seedy underbelly of life itself. The death of producer/friend Bill Bottrell’s seven-year-old son fuels the question brooding in Why, a promiscuous drug addict and her similarly afflicted son wander the streets of If (A Boy Whore in a Man’s Jail), and a drunk-driving accident is outlined in The Crash. Yet, as the lyrics reveal their mini-movie panoramas, evoking one set of emotions, the instrumentation washes gently over the top, bringing with it another — as well as the hope for a better tomorrow. The result is the type of emotional and musical satisfaction for which many songwriters strive, but few ever reach. 
http://www.musicbox-online.com/db-here.html
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From the Philadelphia Enquirer
David Baerwald
Here Comes the
New Folk Underground
(Lost Highway ***)
It's not folk per se, but David Baerwald does come up with a more organic sound - an invitingly warm amalgam of folk, rock, soul and blues - for his first solo album since 1993's harrowing Triage.
It's a style that suits the new songs by Baerwald, formerly half of David + David (Welcome to the Boomtown) and onetime Sheryl Crow collaborator. There's still a lot of darkness and trouble here, starting with the starkly evocative "Why" and running through such numbers as "The Crash" and "Hellbound Train," a careening, Dylanesque ride with the devil. Baerwald's optimism in the face of all this - "Sometimes it gets so ugly... how 'bout faith, even hope," he sings in "Nothing's Gonna Bring Me Down" - comes across as both hard-earned and unironic. And that's the real payoff.
- Nick Cristiano
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/music/3797601.htm
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From FreightTrainBoogie.com
DAVID BAERWALD 
Here Comes The New Folk Underground... (Lost Highway)
Former ‘80's alterna-pop hitmeister (he was one of the Davids in David and David) Baerwald steps out from behind the scenes as a hitmaking producer (he helped with Sheryl Crow's mega-selling debut) to create some new music of his own in a new style. Baerwald has decided to eschew his penchant for studio wizardry and re-immerge with some invigorating country and folk-tinged songs making his previous lushly produced popwork sound like pure wankery. Musicians often re-invent themselves by trying new styles and new ideas but in Baerwald's case he has just managed to find the best parts of his songs and weed out the superfluous nonsense that used to clog them up. While some of the arrangements on the CD are inventive and feature more than he and his guitar, there is little to hide behind and Baerwald obviously knew he had a strong set of songs here because he sounds as natural as can be in this new environment. His work with Crow did show a return to a rootsier style, but on this disc Baerwald embraces it and makes it his own and has become a serious player as a result. This is sure to surprise his previous fans as much as it pleases them but is well worth exploring. By adapting to this new bare bones style Baerwald may once again find himself on the top of the charts and in the forefront of musical conversation. He and his new album deserve nothing less.
http://www.freighttrainboogie.com/newreviews.htm#DAVID BAERWALD
