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David Bettencourt is a poet, songwriter, and son of Appalachia, raised in Blount County, Alabama, with family lines running deep through the coal country of Walker County and the mountain ridges of western North Carolina and Tennessee. His work carries the weight of that inheritance — the hymns, the hollers, the hard truths — filtered through a life that has taken him far beyond it.
 How Do You Hold This |
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 Out of the Depths |
Before he ever stepped onto a stage or published a line, David was a seminarian. Later, he became a civil rights lawyer. Now he writes from the borderland between the South that shaped him and the lessons learned in leaving it behind. His first two poetry collections, Late Unpleasantness and Commedia Erudita, are forthcoming from Scientists & Poets.
As a songwriter, David blends fiery Southern heartache with spirit‑haunted dream imagery. His songs rise, break, and refuse to settle — music for anyone who still feels far from home. Rob of The INDIE Musician Hub says: “His writing hits with the weight of lived truth — it’s Southern, it’s spiritual, and it cuts clean.”
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By foot or oxcart,
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The sun flashes through
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When the fine judgments
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David writes like someone who’s lived every mile of it — Southern fire, sharp truth, no pretending. You feel the weight and the wonder in every line.
-Rob | The INDIE Musician
Connect with David Bettencourt
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