Reviewed by Tony Cummings

If you've read Cross Rhythms' recent interview with Seattle-based singer/songwriter Robert Deeble you'll know that most of the songs on this project hinge around the emotional trials experienced by Deeble and his wife as they sought to foster a little girl called Maliyah. Thankfully the story has a happy ending in that at the 11th hour the couple were unexpectedly given a chance to adopt little Maliyah. Deeble is a highly skilled songsmith and is able to channel his hopes, fears, elation and sorrows in songs which sometimes sound a bit like the kind of tracks Neil Young may have once offered us. Particular standouts are "To Find You", which is both haunting but happy, and the title track, which, as one reviewer wrote, "balances the laughter of his daughter with the tears that he's shed over her." Possibly the most telling song of all is "The Mulberry Bird", written as a tribute to Maliyah's birth mother. A few months after Robert and Anastasia had thought they'd said goodbye to Maliyah, the lady got back in touch. Then, because her life had become so unstable again, she agreed to let them adopt Maliyah permanently. The lyrics say it all: "And for you/She gave the hardest part/A nest for you that wouldn't fall apart." A deeply moving album from one of America's most underrated songsmiths.

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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