TOM FORSEY'S "THE SIMPLE THINGS" Speaking as someone who knows what he's talking about, I know how hard it is to translate real music into today's digital media. It's hard to paint an accurate portrait of one's innermost musical self when tempted to "color" and "fix" the output with the available array of technological doodads. It's hard to keep the soul of the music from getting lost in the studio. My performing songwriter pal Tom Forsey has gotten as close as anyone to keeping the sound and message true on his new CD release "The Simple Things."

After two terrific previous releases, Tom has stripped his music down to the essentials this time out and nervily presents it warts and all. His stable of sympathetic supporting musicians add just the right touches in just the right places, but the bulk of the music, though, is all Tom Forsey. He plays a lot of guitar and handles all the bass, drums, and vocals. The result is an honest look into the heart and soul of an honest musician. It's engagingly sloppy, heartfelt, real, and (above all) compellingly listenable.

I admit I'm biased. Tom's influences mirror mine almost straight down the line. (He, like me, is not afraid to admit to being an Eagles fan.) He's at his best when he sticks close to that early seventies singer/songwriter sound -- think Neil Young's "Harvest" or Bob Dylan's "New Morning" or maybe even (and I'm smiling when I say this) James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James." Tom's style is nothing if not confessional, sometimes painfully confessional. Actually, Tom's so retro that, in some ways, he sounds cutting-edge modern. And other than the occasional lazy rhyme ("girl" and "whirl"), Tom's lyrics reveal the latent "reporter" in him, the observant analyst struggling to find deeper truths and honest feelings. YOU care because HE cares. And that's what it's all about. See his listing in the "Indie Friends and Delights" section below.