Rows of houses out in the water looked in every way like a regular, quaint neighborhood, except totally lacking in roads.
The houses sported names like “Marsh Madness” and “Just Du It,” the camp that provided inspiration for Dash Rip Rock’s new Black Liquor album. The camp’s logo outside features a leggy cowgirl in short-shorts riding on the back of a gigantic bull redfish.
Inside, multiple guitars hang on the walls. A big freezer and overly stocked bar share space with a kitchen that has surely cooked a million fish.
“When I come out here I don’t bring food, or maybe just a couple sweet potatoes,” Davis said. “I just depend on catching my food.”
The camp is owned by Dash Rip Rock fans Coogan and Ike Ryan. In return for use of the camp, Dash Rip Rock plays one or two shows a year at Just Du It for a boating crowd of three dozen people.
“Otherwise, this is the quietest place I’ve been in my life,” Davis said.
When he has the place to himself, Davis writes songs such as Black Liquor’s “Touch of You,” “Dirt” and “Blood Swamp.”
A rock musician to the core, Davis nonetheless appreciates the dramatic silence of Dularge — the chance to finally be alone with his tinnitus.
Davis sits on “Just Du It’s” front porch in the extreme silence, writing songs by free-form singing until some lyrical idea emerges — an act during which Davis reasonably desires solitude.
