Album Review by Ben Ohmart

May 2001

Tina Vero - In the Waiting (Handmade Muse Records)

Tina Vero's 10 track, 45 minute CD is a personal tribute to life and lessons. Her record company is well-named: Handmade Muse Records. Very fitting, since Ms. Vero's very acoustic album is a collection of guitar poetry that is calling upon alternative pop, contemporary folk and demon-freeing modes of music.

'Another sleepy, rainy Thursday / Finds me alone / I'm walking home / With the rain getting heavier now / They say I'm safe and sound / but there's something going 'round' is seeking to exercise rather than 'Live With the Demon'. Not a misprint. No one believes she wants to exorcise her demons because Tina radiates strength from the powers that drain. A believer of the 'without pain, there's no pleasure' syndrome, and you know at once she's right.

Some think folk music has to mean country or political, but consider this collection of songs a public domain diary that has been opened up after 100 years and set to music. And yet, the rains and the laughs are definitely of this time. 'In the Waiting' is public confession of weaknesses and hope that singing these with a true and highly desirable voice will give credence to her prayers over all others. 'Never mind me / That's just the other / Part of my life now / You can spare me / This is blue to gray / And the rest is all behind me / Try to believe these words / Pack a grin, ease your way in / There's no back door to my life now.'

A talent, a voice like this doesn't just happen into the studio one day. Tina's abilities are constantly stretching and confident, she has obviously been trying at life and song so long, she's got it half right. The songwriting/performing part. Life it's still a mystery, still a 'Hunt For the Red', seeking always a fall that isn't dying, but is dying to be seen. 'And the summer gives out / To autumn instead / And I hunt for the red in October instead / What I wanted, died in the heat / What I needed, refuses to sleep.' It is a beautiful song; my favorite.

Tina speaks to the poet in us all. That part of our person which half-seeks truths, but also wants to discover. Read her words once, you might not understand fully. Read them again, and the language becomes clearer. Listen to the music and all eyes will open.