Stunning songwriter and singer and founder of the popular Girls With Guitars collective, Cindy Kalmenson is back with another lovely, intelligent release.

California-raised Cindy Kalmenson has been in Nashville for a little over six years, working the songwriting haunts and playing regular gigs with the Girls With Guitars. This, her second album, is a minor gem that should be in the hands of every reader of Maverick. Co-produced by Cindy and Jon Randall, with the acclaimed Brent Truitt and Ben Wisch being involved in the mixing and recording and a whole host of the finest session players (Pat Bergeson, Dave Pomeroy, Larry Atamanuik, Al Perkins, Lisa Silver, Steve Conn, Bob Ickes, Stuart Duncan, etc, should whet your appetite), this is quality music of the highest order. Then when you add in Cindy’s superb songwriting and distinctive vocal work that touches all the emotional hot-spots, you have an indispensable album.Maturing as an artist involves graduating to different lyrical subject matter, especially on a second album. Such is the case with Kalmenson. She wrote nine of the ten of the songs and explores different emotional territory. The title song a folky, self-penned mantra to the strength of a woman certainly demonstrates the singer-songwriter’s passion for other women in a difficult relationship. Even In The Rain is superbly written and produced, with a chorus hook as instant as getting wet in the rain and guitar lines throughout that keep you interested in every note that follows. In My Dreams ambles along with a host of elements perfectly suited to a Sunday brunch: plucked guitars and mandolin, easygoing percussion, and a touch of steel. She and her Nashville pickers make this sound as eloquent and contemporary as can be. Play it again and again and remember the name: Cindy Kalmenson.

Stunning songwriter and singer and founder of the popular Girls With Guitars collective, Cindy Kalmenson is back with another lovely, intelligent release. Witness follows up her impressive 1998 debut Let Me Out Here and exceeds it in self-assured, accomplished writing. On Witness, Kalmenson’s voice is a cross between the bright sweetness of Nanci Griffith and the emotional complexity of Patty Griffin. It absolutely glides over backing tracks played by the likes of Dave Pomeroy, Pat Bergeson and Al Perkins. Lyrically, Kalmenson is biting (“Hobo Rock Star”), plaintive (“Imagine That”) and multilingual (“Gracias a la Vida”). Throughout, she is smart, adept and masterful.

Possessing an indescribably unique voice, sharp lyrical acumen, and permeating personality, Kalmenson is equal parts enigmatic grace and fun-loving sass. This second release, co-produced by Jon Randall and Kalmenson, is stunning in its beauty — the wistful and gorgeous title track (where the self-destructive mate is told “I don’t wanna be, I don’t wanna be a witness/There’s a difference between living your life/And waiting to die”) won 1st place at this year’s MerleFest, and the compelling “Right or Wrong”, which would be on radio if Cindy were on a major label, took 3rd place. She can charm you with the depth of her expressiveness on “Even in the Rain” and “Imagine That,” then disarm you to involuntary broad smiles with the nicely-off-kilter “Hobo Rock Star” and “Good Bad Habit.”

Well now, this is most interesting. All of these songs were written and performed by Cindy Kalmenson, but the range and variety of both her songs themselves and the quality of her voice are astounding for someone making only her second album (which was done in Nashville, Tennessee). Her “Gracias a la Vida” is such that if it were all you heard, you’d swear she was a latina cantadora. The first song on the album reminded me a bit of early Ani Di Franco and the second was more like Lucinda Williams, then she did one kind o’ like Bernadette Peters, but as I continued to listen, I realized that she doesn’t sound like anyone so much as herself. Her vocal range is not that broad as far as how many octaves she can cover, but in how she can match her voice to the temper of a tune without actually altering her tone that much. She can write amusing songs and sad songs and everything in between. Why haven’t we heard of this woman before? Nevermind. You will have a chance to see and hear for yourself just how talented she is when she opens for Jack Williams at Acoustic Sounds Café on February 13. And you don’t have to take my word for it: she won the Merlefest Chris Austin Songwriting contest in 2002 and Best Up-Tempo Song at the South Florida Folk Festival in 2003. She and Jack should complement each other very well and, seems to me, make for a very rewarding evening of live music. You don’t want to miss this one.