Customer Reviews

Driving Home

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Cheryl Wheeler's Driving Home is the one CD that I take on every road trip. It is perhaps my favorite albumn ever. Wheeler is the epitome of a singer/songwriter. I love her voice and the folk-style music is great, but her meaningful lyrics are what truly set her apart. Listening to "When Fall Comes to New England" is like reading a book of poetry. I smile through upbeat "Spring" (I especially love the bridge), weep through the haunting ballad "Almost", and laugh during the satirical (but serious social statement) "Don't Forgent the Guns". This is, in my opinion, her most diverse and best overall album. I love everything she's done, but if you could only buy one of her albums or want to select a good gift...then this is my vote.

This is definitely one of my favorite discs. The songs run the full range, from ballad to satire. Every song shows wit and wisdom. Even my least favorite cut, "Orbiting Jupiter", is worth listening to. There is something for everyone.

"Driving Home", the first cut, makes you want to sit and listen, which is probably the message of the song. It sets the tone for the whole collection, which could get a bit heavy. Could. It's broken up nicely by "Don't Forget the Guns", which is a laugh out loud song (and probably reflects best Ms. Wheeler's stage persona--if you have a chance to see her live, take it), and I'm sure it's high on Chuck Heston's top 40. My favorite line from the whole collection comes from this song: "When we pack picnic lunches that's not all we'll bring along/'Cause we'll be packing 45's case anything goes wrong."

My favorite song from the collection is probably "Music In My Room", which brought back childhood memories.

I can't say for sure how many times I've listened to this collection. Were it in album form, I would have worn it out long ago, this I know.

I have owned this album for about ten years now and I can honestly say I never get tired of listening to it from beginning to end. Cheryl Wheeler is an awesome storyteller as well as musician. My favorite track off the album is "Act of Nature". The song chronicles the development of a storm on the literal level but also deals with the break-up of a relationship if you listen more closely. There is a little something for everyone: toe tappers like Spring, Music In My Room, Don't Forget the Guns; sentimental slow songs like: Driving Home, 75 Septembers, and Almost. I have seen Cheryl live on a couple of occasions, a treat not to be missed.

Following up the brilliant Circles and arrows (the album that first brought Cheryl to my attention) might have seemed a hard task but Cheryl maintained the standard set by that wonderful album. Musically, her style could be described as folk or country but it's actually a mix of the two.

Cheryl's sense of humor is evident in Don't forget the guns, a sarcastic song in which Cheryl ridicules the American obsession with guns.

The title track opens the album in cheerful style, with Cheryl singing about an enjoyable drive through Pennsylvania countryside, listening to the music of Richard Thompson. A different drive home, this time by night, was the inspiration for Orbiting Jupiter. Cheryl sings about the pleasures of listening to music as a teenager in Music in my room. Two other cheerful songs (Spring, When fall comes to New England) extol the joys of those seasons. Cheryl describes the start of a new relationship in Silver lining.

On the reflective side, Cheryl sings of relationships going wrong (Act of nature, Bad connection) and the march of time (75 Septembers - a song in which she asks about how things used to be). There is also a song (Frequently wrong but never in doubt) about somebody who always thinks he's right but rarely is.

This is one of Cheryl's best albums. If you enjoy singer-songwriters with a sense of humor, you will surely enjoy Cheryl's music.

These songs keep me going through the day with a melody for every mood. The song "music in my room" is beautifully written and makes severel what I found to be clever references to old favorites in folk and rock. "Orbiting Jupiter" has a haunting melody and a strong under tone that really grabs your ear. Once again she brings her own opinions into the scene with the ride along melody "don't forget the guns". It is a humerous and entertaining editorial on the gun laws of the US. Some of the slower songs that I found to be captivating were "silver lining" and "frequently wrong". The first song has a good message and a beautiful melody, and the other has a sence of reflection or remorse as it tells the story of a man who never quite got it right. I also like the chorus with "never in doubt" because so often we doubt ourselves, and this song makes me think of confidence. I recomend this CD, Cheryl is a wonderful writer and I believe that her words should be spread farther than they are.

(...)

With due respect to Mary-Chapin Carpenter ( whose
music I like a lot ) nothing she has recorded
matches the stunning consistency of " Driving Home ".
" Driving Home " is one of the ten CDs I always take
with me on any trip of any length - whether its
to the supermarket or New Zealand. Considering
I own several hundred CDs ( admittedly plenty
of which I wish I'd never bought ) this shows I am
a hard-core acolyte.
I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed by " Driving Home ".
Amazon's rating system - allowing a maximum of 5 stars -
is ridiculously restrictive when it comes to a bona fide
classic such as " Driving Home ". It surely deserves
5 stars with an * at a bare minimum.
Buy " Driving Home " and improve your life. Trust me on this.

I just "discovered" Cheryl Wheeler at the Shenendoah Valley Folk Music Festival and did what I have never done before--I bought both of the CD's they had at the table. How could I never have heard of this wonderful musician before? I particularly like her "up" songs. This CD has more of those than some of the others.

DRIVING HOME - Cheryl Wheeler

This album first introduced me to the music of Cheryl Wheeler way back in 1994. It didn't take much prompting to search it out after hearing "Don't Forget The Guns" on a local radio station. After playing it, the host declared, "what a sweet little song ..." which appropriately reflected the sardonic humour it conveyed. How can "we don't look for trouble, but by golly, if we're in it/it's nice to know we're free to blow nine hundred rounds a minute" not do that. This is the comic side of Cheryl Wheeler. The poet is something else again, and "Driving Home" reflects that side in a quite breathless fashion.

"75 Septembers" resonates with me, because my late father was born in September. I well remember his 75th, because I couldn't be there for it, as I was travelling in Turkey at the time. The lines that really speak to me are "now the fields are all four lanes and the moon's not just a name/are you more amazed at how things change or how they stay the same/and do you sit here on this porch and wonder how the time flies by/or does it seem to barely creep along/with 75 Septembers come and gone." There's nothing much else I want to say after that.

There's hardly a song I wouldn't recommend on this album. Right now I feel somewhat lost to find the words that would adequately describe the emotional pull and insight of these songs. I'll just single out in particular "Act of Nature", "Bad Connection", "Frequently Wrong But Never In Doubt", "Almost", and, of course, "75 Septembers."

There are light and airy, good feeling moments on this album too. "Silver Lining", "When Fall Comes To New England", "Music In My Room" and "Spring", both musically and lyrically, flow effortlessly and leave me with a sense of real affection for Cheryl's songwriting ability.

Cheryl's collaboration with Janis Ian on "Orbiting Jupiter" is literally in a galaxy of its own. I have recently rediscovered Janis Ian too through a not totally convincing local cover of "At Seventeen." There's another incredible, durable talent. Janis, that is, not the local.

"Driving Home" is one of my favourite albums of all time. It's right up there in the top 3 along with Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Stones In The Road" and "Between Here And Gone". I am rather torn across all three and I keep changing my mind on which one might be the best. I like to think I can just appreciate them all because they all offer something different. Perhaps it is no co-incidence that Mary Chapin sings background vocal on "75 Septembers".

Do yourself a favour. Listen to this album. Take the advice of respected music critic Robert Oermann, who, in the album's liner notes suggests that by the time you've finished listening to these songs, Cheryl will be as deep in your heart as someone you smile at every day.

While I do enjoy listening to many songs on this CD--it is not my favorite collection of Cheryl's material by any means. I love the title song, "Driving Home" as well as "Silver Lining," "Frequently Wrong.....," "75 Septembers" and "When Fall Comes to New England." But I do have problems with "Orbiting Jupiter" and "Almost." But it is still very much worth listening to and owning.

Well worth purchasing. I keep it permanently in my car and go back to it time and time again. "When Fall Comes to New England" is beautiful. When I die I hope my husband figures out that I really liked this CD and plays a few songs from it at my funeral...well, one can dream I suppose!