One of the finest of our local artists is Cherie Call. Self penned songs such as "Believe", "Gifts", "Memphis", "One Good Woman" and "Holding On" have become classics to her many fans. The acoustic version of "Holding On" is particularly fine. Cherie"s been on the scene for quite awhile. I first heard her many years ago at Provo city's down town Freedom Festival. We'd go down to the court house to watch the 4th or July parade and for many years there were musical acts on stage at the court house grounds. That's where I first became acquainted with her work and while I didn't pay a whole lot of attention that day, I made a mental note to check into her stuff more thoroughly. That took quite awhile coming and didn't really happen until I was listening to a Christmas broadcast on FM100 a few years ago where she was featured. At some point in the concert one of the MCs asked if she had written anything new recently. She said she'd written a new song the night before but was hesitant to perform it in public. Well, after much coaxing and cajoling she finally relented and sang "Broken Hearts Like Mine" for the very first time in front of an audience. It was what you could only describe as a "moment". You could tell even from listening to the radio that the audience and hosts were stunned. I was driving at the time and almost had to pull over to keep from wrecking the car. That song deeply touched every heart that heard it that day. Awesome experience! From what I've just written you'd have to say I consider Cherie one the best song writers around and that'd be the truth! Cherie's latest offering is an album called "Grace". As the name implies you'd conclude that there were some Christian themes included. If you know Cherie you'd know that she doesn't stray too far from songs of faith, hope, love and family. That's exactly where this album goes and does it very well indeed! I consider this album her finest, taken as a whole. The consistency of it, the quality of the song writing, singing and production put it in a place where few of Nashville's finest are capable of going. Gotta love it! Favorite tracks are: "Grace Is Amazing", "Walk You Through the Night", "Hurricanes" and "River of Tears". "River of Tears" is a noteworthy re-write of a very old song from the British Isles, "The Water Is Wide". She adds a whole new dimension to a song of love, even tragic love in some of its incarnations, totally re-working it into a song of faith. Lovely and amazing! For more info check out her website by clicking on her name at the top of this post. Happy listening!
