December 15th, 2005

I have an old friend who recently moved from the right coast to the left one, and she sent me the following CD for my consideration. When I popped it in the computer I was immediately taken by her high, fragile voice, strong rock sensibilities, and solid songwriting abilities. It's by Stacie Rose and titled "Shadow & Splendor" (Enchanted Records, ER50025 -- www.stacierose.com for more information). Images of Lisa Loeb and Sara Hickman came to mind as I listened to the 14 tracks on this CD, and I was impressed enough to include "S&S" in this "Best of 2005" column as a representative of the singer/songwriter genre. Rose is a new voice that really deserves to be heard. —Lucky Clark