Customer Reviews

Candace Asher

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first heard and saw Candace Asher sing some short clips as part of a London-based TV documentary, "Women in Country Music/Naked Nashville". She was included in a segment with Nashville artists Pam Tillis, Kathy Mattea and Suzy Boguss. Candace was featured as an up and coming writer and singer of significance. Her voice and songs immediately caught my ear and I bought her CD as soon as it was commercially available over a year ago.

Candace can hold her own with any of the major talents in Nashville as both a singer and writer. She has her own wonderful style and sound that shows none of the "cookie-cutter" approach to country music that crowds the radio these days. Her performances stir a variety of emotions, she sings from the heart, and her lyrics hit me every time I listen to the CD. I can enjoy her music and take away an uplifting message or new meaning every time I listen. Even after more than a year, this is one of a few CDs that I always have with me wherever I go. I have become an unabashed big fan of Candace.

If I had to pick my favorite cuts (a difficult choice to make), my two favorites are probably "Something in Me" and "One Tender Tear". Both tell wonderful stories with important messages. In "Something in Me" she speaks to me about trusting that inner voice that we too often are not able to hear clearly but more often than not would lead us where we want to go - it's important to reach out and go for our dreams. "One Tender Tear" (my personal favorite for both the tune and the lyrics) tells me that everyone deserves to find the treasure of a true love.

This CD contains a variety of songs that have a nice flow to them and thus makes it a wonderful collection to listen to over and over. Candace is the real deal and this CD was a must for my collection. You also do not necessarily have to be a fan of country music to enjoy this CD - you just have to appreciate and enjoy good music. Way to go Candace!

Genre-hopping seems to to have become something of a national pastime of late. Rather than search for the words to describe what one is hearing, it's often easier to simply put it into a prelabeled box. Unfortunately, a lot of great music slips through the cracks that way.

Candace Asher's debut is one of those gems that you may miss if you blink. That's because the 11 (largely self-composed) songs aren't so heavily genre-laden as much as they are a recipe: a little blues here, a sprinkle of jazz there, a spoonful of folk, add some classic rock & roll - there are a lot of elements that make up this engaging songwriter. She's in a class of her own, and walks a fine tightrope amongst many of her contemporaries.

As another reviewer has mentioned, I too first saw Candace on the Women In Country/Naked Nashville doco while living overseas. She frequently performs around Nashville in-between tours, and it's great to see an artist of her calibre tough it out in a town notorious for ignoring individuality and tenacity.

I have a handful of CDs that travel with me like a pace-maker. The Candace Asher CD is one of those. It has a sense of the soul that is all too rare. Take this to the bank - She's gold.

Candace Asher probably never did well with coloring books or paint-by-number canvases. True artists cannot be confined or limited. They are compelled to color outside the lines. Candace Asher is that kind of person.

It is rare that I am so impressed with an artist's entire CD. There are usually one or two really hot tunes, several mediocre, and a few that detract from the others. Asher's collection goes from one great song to another. With each song I get the feeling, "I can identify with that...I know that emotion."

Throughout the CD, the listener is taken on an incredible journey with the heart. One is reconnected with the fires that once kindled in the passion for living, a passion that we all too soon abandon in favor of existence.

Remembering a time when couples would pick a song to call their own, I have rediscovered that magic moment in time in Candace Asher's music. Every one of her selections touches a nerve, ...a heartstring. It's so easy to get attached to her beautiful voice, lyrics and music, as she melds contemporary country and pop.

The touching words of "That Old Car" softens the toughest of hearts as it describes an old car in the drive, and how it symbolizes freedom. That Old Car, if only it would start, would take a young woman far from her troubles and heartache. It is but one of 11 beautiful stories. Others, such as "More Than Just a Vase," A Face in the Crowd" and "Every Time Your Heart Breaks" are songs you want to hear again and again.

As I said earlier, "Candace Asher's CD travels with me like a pace-maker." Her music reminds me that my heart still beats beneath it's callousness. It takes some pretty powerful music for me to make that statement. Candace Asher IS "powerful music."

Candace is more than an artist who dares to touch the very contours of the listener's heart. Strong,compelling, yet oh so gently going places in our past, present, and yes even the future. Her lyrics are optimistic and her lessons are clearly defining today's "survivors" and the enormous amount of love and healing it takes to be one. This project is indeed a "musical miracle" for all to embrace with the same amount of passion the album itself possesses.

I loved this CD! My wife had done some back-up work for this artist and when I saw Candace live at the Bluebird Cafe,I was impressed by the quality of the songs and her emotional, full-voiced vocals. The album is an interesting blend of radio-friendly pop tunes,powerful lyric-driven anthems and Americana-style musical reflections on living,loving,and losing love.I would say if you are a fan of Mary Chapin Carpenter,Kathy Mattea or Kim Richey,you will really enjoy this CD.The current single, "That Old Car" and the Trisha Yearwood- style ballad,"More Than Just a Vase" do a nice job of communicating how a mere object and the memories associated with it can still resonate emotions in our hearts years later."Thankless Children" and "At the Hands of a Man" tackle the issues of Native American discrimination and spouse abuse with admirable power.And "Face in The Crowd" and "Everytime Your Heart Breaks" are commercial pop tracks that are superbly crafted,arranged and sung.In all, a terrific effort by Ms. Asher,whose songwriting gifts and emotional lead vocals have made me a fan!

Candace is more than an artist who dares to touch the very contours of the listener's heart. Strong,compelling, yet oh so gently going places in our past, present, and yes even the future. Her lyrics are optimistic and her lessons are clearly defining today's "survivors" and the enormous amount of love and healing it takes to be one. This project is indeed a "musical miracle" for all to embrace with the same amount of passion the album itself possesses.