Fronting countrified contemporary acoustic songs, Carl Cacho's voice reaches right through the speakers and beckons your ears to his heartfelt, soul-touching music. With a voice that is warm and comfortable as well as it is strong and confident, Carl expresses emotions, shares thoughts, and opens the windows of the mind with well-written, sincere songs. His lyrics read directly and clearly yet are still rooted with a great deal of depth. I particularly noticed and loved his vivid and poetic descriptive wordings: " When the cord meets the knife/And you float from your mother/like a new balloon in flight/Into this world, there you go" ("In This World"), and "Her smile it's just a rainbow coming/when the storm has left you cold/her stories are like big roadmaps/the way that they unfold" ("Not A Young Girl") - just a wonderful way with words.

Carl possesses a natural gift for songwriting that holds it's own very well, but on this CD we are also treated to the beautiful gifts of his friends - Kevin So, in particular - an incredible talent with his solo projects, lends his touches to many of Cacho's songs, among them harmonica on "Back When I Met You" and "Kevin Blues," piano on the "The Muse" and "Foulmouth Kelly," and harmony vocals on a couple of aforementioned tracks and as a duet vocalist on "Save Me A Seat," a song that also features great harmony vocals by Stephanie Corby. So many other brilliant musicians appear, including Ellis Paul (vocals), Catie Curtis (drums and harmonies), Max Cohen (guitar), Sean Staples (mandolin), McCauley Burke (vocals), Kris Delmhorst (cello), and more.

My favorites and the ones I felt were strongest: "Back When I Met You" (which is where I was immediately struck by the strength and clarity of Carl's voice), "Save Me A Seat," and "Where Have All The Heroes Gone." An observation: The album begins with some energy and twang, mellows and slows through the middle, but picks up again at the end - that can be both good and bad. In this case I was grabbed right away and held on to feel each song, but was also glad to have the tempo step again to make for a strong closer.

I'm sure, with this album release, you'll start hearing more from and about Carl Cacho.
- Debbie Catalano