Meg Hutchinson's "The Crossing" Released
In the
interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I've been waiting for
this album for over 2 years.
I first became a Meg Hutchinson fan about 5 years ago now when handed a CD of hers by a friend from back home, where she'd seen her play. I was immediately taken by Meg's high, sweet, smile-tainted voice and evocative and image-heavy lyrics. It was a very solid independent album, and Meg found herself on the cover of the metro, the Time Warner Cable Access music show "Sounding Board" and the winner of 4 "New Folk" and songwriter awards in 2000.
Against the Grey stayed in my playlist for over 3 years, even outlasting most of my Ani Collection and various other flavors of the moment. When I finally got a chance to see her live around 6 months ago, I was thrilled, and somewhat star struck.The thing that floored me - still floors me, in fact - is the amazing different between Meg live and on CD. Her music on CD is catchy, sweet, and nice. Her music in person is emotional if not religious, and her soft voice draws you so far in that watching her perform is like watching a powerful movie. You don't mean to be so involved, and you have occasional moments of clarity where you realize where you are, but for the rest of the time, you're completely lost in the world of the performance.
Meg performed various songs from her live album which I bought the next day and alluded to the imminent release of her new CD, the crossing, which made up the rest of the music she played that evening.
I got the CD in the mail today, after many studio delays and the time it took to ship, and it's nothing short of awesome.
This isn't just a good folk CD - this is a good folk CD with two or three radio-worthy singles on it. I'm half excited and half terrified that this could be Meg's breakout album, propelling her to folk stardom in the next few months.
The first three tracks on the album alone have definite grooves, I really feel that the titular single could climb the charts.
