Dave Davies at the Hudson Square Music & Wine Festival

Fifty years ago, Dave Davies founded the Kinks, one of the few British Invasion groups that survived long past the invasion. While his older brother Ray Davies became the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the Kinks, Dave occasionally took the lead on a few songs, including "Death of a Clown" (a solo single but which appeared on a Kinks album) and "Strangers." I Will Be Me, released today, is his sixth solo album.

This afternoon, Dave Davies opened City Winery’s fifth annual Hudson Square Music & Wine Festival, a free "After-Work Backyard Party" held outdoors in an asphalt lot behind the venue on Tuesday evenings during the summer. Davies’ charm was that he is or was a Kink, but by the end of his concert, one could not help but miss the Kinks. Davies sang a catalogue of songs from his solo albums and a few early Kinks songs, but he is a very poor singer, straining his voice on most songs. If a listener did not already love him for his legacy, there is a good chance that his vocals would make the listener cringe. Nevertheless, considering he suffered a debilitating stroke in 2004, it was a joy to see the 66-year-old rocker perform, especially the Kinks songs from the 1960s -- “Tired of Waiting”, “All Day and All of the Night” and “You Really Got Me.”