"Fire In My Soul"

Review by Bert Gagnon, Neon Productions Radio, Musictogousa.com

Yippee-Ki-Yo-Ki-Yay!! That spells out the importance of this new country cd Bob Levy has just released.  Though not your traditional country, the songs in this cd have many influences from country to country/folk, country/blues and country/swing.  That is the sweetness of this country cd.  Each song with it's own personal flair of country.  It's a smorgasbord boundless in the Bob Levy songwriting styling.  As many of you know, Bob Levy is a tremendous jazz songwriter and he has that same talent in country since he has fashioned his songwriting skills to fit the chosen genre.  The songs on this cd "Fire In My Soul" tells stories of the trials and tribulations of life and in the traditional cowboy manner of moving on, lonesome trains and remembered relationships.  The "what if's" and complexities of love and reasoning.

Not only does this songwriter have extreme talent of putting together songs, he also has a talent for picking the right singers for his songs.  On this cd, the songs are sung by Juli Maners, John Foster and Mike Lusk.  These singers know the country genre well and the country sub-genres that are included.  This cd is a country lovers dream since it embodies all the sounds of country but mostly within sub-genres.  This is absolute genius since the cd could be considered eclectic and provides the variations needed to keep the listener engaged and returning to these great songs while staying country.

One of the most important elements of Bob Levy's songwriting skills is that the words are put together in a way that lets the listener imagine and put their own lives within the words.  Since most of us have experienced  the scenario's that Bob has written about in some form, it's not a far reach to be able to say that the song was written about yourself. 

There is something for everyone in "Fire In My Soul" cd and all 20 songs has it's own personality that fuses the entire project.

Key tracks are  "Nothing Like You" (country/blues)(sung by Mike Lusk), "I Feel The Urge To Travel On" (country/swing)(sung by Mike Lusk), "Renegade Heart" (country)(sung by John Foster), "Fire In My Soul" (country)(sung by John Foster), "Look At Her Now" (country)(sung by Juli Maners), "I Still See You" (country)(sung by Juli Maners), "Living Without Her" (country/folk)(sung by Mike Lusk and Juli Maners) and "This Time" (country)(sung by Juli Maners, music by Karen Jacobsen, SESAC).