Popping in a brand new CD for the first time, even from a well regarded rising artist like Carrie Ferguson, always comes with a little bit of nervousness. Will I like this? I had heard her in the Emerging Artist Showcase at the 2013 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival but was not really familiar with her music. This was going to be essentially a new exposure.
photo by Glenn Koetzner
Well, I needn’t have worried. Right from the first measures, Ferguson’s second album, The List of Whales, just reaches right in and commands the listener to move and be moved. The upbeat fiddle-infused opening track, “Sunlight,” masks its story of a bittersweet journey of self discovery and seeking under a foot-tapping beat: “I’ve chosen things I thought were great that tore my soul apart/Sometimes it takes a few mistakes to know your own heart”. Continue reading