Release date: 03/08/05 Label: Wildflower Records

Website: http://www.kennywhite.net/

AdultPop review: The following is, likely, an exercise in futility. Although some regard this reviewer highly as a resource for pop music recommendations, just because the artist named above shares our surname and a bit of our DNA, whenever we review his albums our credibility is always called into question. And, sadly, it seems that the more enthusiastic we become, the more praise we toss in his direction, the more we wax poetic; the less likely you are to believe us. So when we tell you that this is, by far, the best album by a singer/songwriter that we have heard this year or last year or the year before, we say it knowing full well that, as we do, your eyes are rolling in doubt.

5 Girls:

For those of you who are open-minded or curious enough to still be reading this, let us recount the ways we love this album. First, we love the songs. They are so rich in melody that if Kenny were to hum them, we would still love them. Alas, not only does he not hum, he has filled these songs with some of the most mature, contemplative, insightful, poignant, imaginative and hilarious lyrics that we have heard, well, ever. (Uh-oh, we just felt a few more eyeballs begin to roll). Kenny writes mainly about the vagaries and intricacies of love and human relationships. He writes with a keen and clear-eyed (but hardly jaundiced) precision.

Shoot The Moon:

If (cyber)space were not a factor here, we'd reprint his words in toto as there are so many savory lines. Instead, we'll just quote his most beautiful ("Your skin was velvet in my hands/ Your voice a bird on the wing/ And when I've taken my last breath/ I will feel like I had everything"-from `Letter from Xray') and his funniest ("You suck for saying I'll never change/ And I suck for never changing"-from his country rave-up,'Working On a Way'). Actually, his funniest line is the one he "delivers" in the same song that alludes to an infamous scene from a well-known movie, but we'll let you discover that one for yourself.

Working On A Way:

We also love the spot-on production. It is not surprising that it is impeccable, as Kenny's production has been honored before, most recently for Peter Wolf's `Sleepless', which Rolling Stone named one of the top albums of the past decade. Kenny also displays the good sense to recruit a couple of other fine producers, Paul Bryan and David Barratt to add a few more colors to his palette. We love the fact that, while most albums these days have a couple of stand-out tracks surrounded by the aural equivalent of those Styrofoam packing peanuts, `Symphony in 16 Bars' has no filler and, in fact, doesn't peak until the penultimate song, `Closer'-a stunningly resonant piece that surprises and tickles the ear with its internal rhymes, word play and lush performance.

Might As Well Leave (Live):

And we love the little elements and nuances: Kenny's elegiac piano coda on the gorgeous, should-be-a-hit `Shoot the Moon'; Duke Levine's electric guitar slicing through the mix and jousting with White's hurdy-gurdy organ on the aforementioned `Closer'; the way the similar voices of White and Marc Cohn blend and bounce off one another in the Dylanesque `Anabel'; White's propulsive duet with Ollabelle's amazing Amy Helm (Levon's daughter) on `Different Today', whose driving rhythm leads you to expect those claymated raisins to come dancing into the room at any moment. Et cetera. Et cetera. Et cetera.