A few weeks ago, very near the end of my trip out to upstate New York, my CD finished and I did something very unusual: I turned on the radio. Normally a futile action, it's even worse in that particular area of the country. Most of the signals are weak and end up fading out after a few static-filled minutes. As luck would have it, a fairly strong signal brought in this fascinating story about a search for the object of a collection of old letters written circa World War II. Entitled "Goat On A Cow," the story pulled together the seemingly improbable topics of the world of correspondence and, well, a goat standing on a cow's back. Journalist Laura Starecheski had me mesmerized for the last fifteen minutes of the ride.

So what's the big deal? Well, during that time period I totally lost any sense of self. I was gone. For me, that kind of experience (or maybe lack of experience) is why I read, write, and listen.

It's also what happened to me the first time I heard Lori McKenna. I had just pulled into the parking lot at work and the song "Hardly Speaking A Word" came on the radio. After switching off the truck's engine, I sat there listening as 'I' quickly dissolved, gone... into the music. What a song, what a voice. A few minutes later, I sat at my desk shaking my head in amazement at the fact that McKenna was not (yet) famous.

That song came from her debut record Paper Wings and Halo. McKenna has put out several CD's since then, including the stellar follow-up album Pieces Of Me from which Faith Hill took the song Fireflies. Unglamorous, McKenna's major label debut, finds her in different company, with (just a few) co-writers and both Tim McGraw and Byron Gallimore at the producer's chairs. This makes me nervous. McKenna's songs have a purity and intimacy that doesn't need to be messed with.

The good news is that the "messing" was right-minded and the production mostly light. This is still a Lori McKenna record.