Sunday, April 22, 2007

Children Running Through - CD review by Cindy

We try to bring you a movie review on Mondays but Kathy covered quite a few last week and I haven’t been to the movies since to see something new … so I though you might enjoy a review of a CD by a favorite new artist of mine.

Actually, Patty Griffin isn’t new – she has 6 albums to her credit with Children Running Through her latest release.

Truth: I’d never heard of her until I was watching an Ellen DeGeneres show and Patty was the musical guest. She sang two cuts from Children Running Through and they just blew me away. The entire CD is acoustical. Nothing electric. No heavy productions. Just pure unplugged guitar with a bass, snare, the occasional sax and a ringing, clear piano. Oh – and some strings on a couple of cuts for some added swell.

Did I say swell? This is a beautiful CD. Talk about painting pictures with words. The lyrics are sometimes whimsical, often romantic, occasionally sad and always reflective. Patty has a voice made in heaven. Truly. She has that clarity of sound that merges with soul and simply enthralls. A voice reminiscent of Eva Cassidy and Judy Collins, crystal clear, stunningly beautiful, and calls to the dreamer in your soul. A rare voice singing rare prose and melodies that make you ponder and smile and gather a little wool.

The first cut, You’ll Remember is a sultry and slow ode to a lost lover. The second, Stay on the Ride, has a funky and fun blues sound with a little sax added to the mix.

Trapeze: A soft then swelling duet with Emily Lou Harris is all about nostalgia and choices and courage and learning to fly even in the face of heartbreak

On another cut, Getting Ready, about letting go of a lover, Patty pulls off a Bob Dylan-esque style that is fun and fast and freeing.

Heavenly Day, however, is my favorite cut on the CD. The melody just makes you smile and the lyrics make you want to sing – except you don’t want to miss one note of Patty’s rich, rare voice. Here’s a little taste of the lyric: Tomorrow may rain with sorrow, here’s a little time we can borrow. Forget all our troubles in these moments so few, right now the only thing we really have to do is have ourselves a heavenly, heavenly day…” Trust me, you will love this song!

There are 13 cuts in all, all as unique as they are beautiful – and a bonus CD with two additional cuts – all for $13.00.

So do yourself a favor. Go buy this CD. I promise, you’ll want to listen to it over and over again. I did. I do. In fact, I’m listening as I write this blog.

Do you all have favorite artists? What is it about them that move you most? Their voice? They’re style? The lyrics? I’d love for you to tell me about them because I'd also love to make another accidental discovery like Patty Griffin and have another Heavenly, heavenly day :o)

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Cindy, I LOVE music. . . listen to it constantly while writing. And I'm always on the prowl for great new artists to include in my library. I'll definitely check her out-- hey, I bet I can find her on I-tunes!

And thanks for this wishes-- I could use a heavenly day!

:) Betina

Helen Brenna said...

Cindy, I've never heard of this artist, but like Betina I love new music. I'll check her out.

Do you listen to music while you write/work? Usually, I can't

Cindy Gerard said...

Oh how different we all are. Like Betina, I have to have music on when I write. Music and a vanilla candle burning. It's my own little ritual. I can write anywhere, any time but I have to have those two things to make the experience work best.

Christie Ridgway said...

And if you don't want to buy the entire CD, you can always go to iTunes, sample the songs, and pay 99 cents for, say, Heavenly Day. I'm going off to check it out!

My dh just bought two CDs by The Shinns. We only listened briefly on the way home, but I liked them. And I just bought from iTunes "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood. I'm not a big country music fan, but this song is climbing the pop charts and it has such a good, kick-ass girl thing going that it helps with the heroine I'm writing.

Cindy Gerard said...

Christie - I consider Carrie U kind of a country pop cross over artist. Love her stuff. In fact, when you go to www.myspace.com/cindygerard , I've got her new #1 hit, WASTED as my background music. Check it out. It's great!

Cindy Gerard said...

whoops
make that: http://www.myspace.com/cindygerard

That might actually get you there.:o)