Sweet Is the Melody -+ The Dance You Choose -+ Rise Again-+ Moonlight Shadow Medley: Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a... (Arlen/Harburg/Thiele/Weiss) --+ Out of the Woods -+ Driftwood -+ Some Days -+ Once in Every Life-+ Love Is So Rare Getting Dark Again -+ To Say Goodbye to You, The Island, BONUS TRACK: The Gift
Will the '60s counterculture adage to "Never trust anyone over 30" become "Don't trust anyone over 14"? Pop's newfound fascination with the pre-driver's-license-eligible set is underscored by this debut from the 12-year-old Nova Scotia singing sensation and the same-named PBS television special it inspired. Produced by vets Peter Asher (Linda Ronstadt, 10,000 Maniacs) and George Massenberg (Garth Brooks, Aaron Neville), Debison's debut hews closely to a country-crossover tack that's a pleasant showcase for the crystalline innocence of her voice, if but a tantalizing hint at her potential. Whether soaring into a hormonally unchallenged falsetto on a Caribbean-inflected "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" or brightening up the Celtic-country "Driftwood" and contemporary Nashville of the title track, Debison's voice sometimes seems to want to go beyond the largely safe and sometimes pedestrian material she's been presented with here--and that's the sign of a promising future. --Jerry McCulley