Reviewed by Chris Tozer

If you have been lamenting the untimely death of singer songwriter Mark Heard last August, here's an album to bring you cheer. Like recent efforts from Randy Stonehill and Garth Hewitt it was produced by Mark and is very much in his mould. Indeed, Pierce Pettis proves himself equal to his mentor with a fine selection of well crafted songs. "In So Many Words" is a brilliant expose of superficial conversation and relates that "When the talk gets serious our voices fade." In "Mickey Leland" he mourns the passing of a US senator as another of the good die young. He writes touchingly about his grandmother and his "Little Man". Overall, the lyrics are of a quality found on a Cockburn album. And talking of Bruce, the Canadian certainly has a rival here in terms of acoustic guitar playing. To merit a couple of instrumentals on an album you just have to play well. So let's give full credit to a versatile producer. One man falls but his torch is carried on by another. Great stuff.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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