It isn't often that I review a band for whom I have played keyboards. In fact, I've never done it before!! This is a first, but then I feel strongly about the music of the duo called Gypsy Soul.

I should explain. I am not a fan of songwriters. I'm not interested or comfortable listening to someone play guitar while singing from their personal journal entries. As a result, I don't accept calls to play in bands, or to perform on CDs for songwriters, or to go out on stage with someone and their guitar and lots of earnest lyrics. I do my own thing, mostly, and am happy for it.

So when I first heard the voice of Cillette Swann and the guitar and fretless bass of Roman Morykit, I almost fell over. The lyrics are superb, evocative, poetic, and they resonate to the common experience; the music and arrangements strikingly lovely. What wasn't to like? I asked, and quickly ingratiated myself into the band. Their music is so pleasing to the mind and spirit that I volunteered to perform on several of their CDs and to actually go onstage with them when they required keyboards.

Volunteered.

That's how I feel about music that isn't even my own. It's a delight to the ears. Start with "Who", drive to "Wont Be Wronged", and finish up with "Epona's Wild Daughter". See what you think.