MEGHAN CARY
Onion Dream (AngelBear Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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As anyone who's tried can tell you, writing a good song is hard work. Developing the chops to play and sing isn't so easy either. Once all that work is behind you, the hardest part of all is getting anyone to care. That takes both a superior song and a special quality on the part of the performer that can only be learned at the risk of failure, and that kind of failure can be painful, even humiliating.

But when a performer has both great material and that undefinable quality that makes listeners care about what's being performed, well, that's something special. Meghan Cary is special.

Cary's primary gig is acting, which she has successfully pursued in settings ranging from Shakespearean repertory to voiceovers for TV commercials. Maybe that dramatic background is the secret weapon behind Onion Dreams, her first full length album release since 1995's New Shoes. All I know is that with a Herculean stack of CDs to review in front of me, this is the one I've been playing over and over again. Not because there's anything so strikingly original. An attentive listener will easily find points of comparison with a range of Lilith Fair veterans and others. Nope, the reason I keep listening, and recommend that you start listening, to this one is because unlike many of her contemporaries, Meghan Cary makes me care about what she's singing enough to make it worth my while to listen again and deepen my understanding. And like the onion in her album title, the songs are layered with qualities that only reveal themselves as you listen more and dig deeper.

If AngelBear Records' distribution hasn't penetrated your market yet, you can get in touch with www.meghancary.com. It's worth doing, because her songs and her performances will penetrate you mind and heart.

Track List:

This Angel * Onion Dream * Zero MPH * You Don't Know Me * Lori's Song * Waiting * Quiet Of The Lie * The Boy * So Long * Sorrow's Waltz * Rain Song

© 2001 - Shaun Dale