One of the reasons that I wish CIUT Fm. in Toronto would get it's act together and get their real-audio up, is so my Mudcat friends could get a chance to hear some of the wonderful new talent that I do. On tonight's "Acoustic Workshop", I had old friends "Beyond the Pale" who keep getting better and better, and a young woman making her debut on the show.

Lori Cullen has been running open stages at the Free Times Cafe for several months now, and is really honing her craft. Her songs are lyrically complex but she delivers them in a subtle and quite beautiful way. I had planned on having her sing a song or two, but she's so darned engaging we ended up chatting for quite a while. She accompanies herself on a great sounding Larrivee and her guitar work was solid as a rock..very easy to play behind. (lucky me)

I've been listening to her debut album "Garden Path", and it's definitely growing on me. The arrangements are clean and uncluttered, and considering the strength of her material and delivery, I'm sure she had no difficulty in getting the other fine musicians to be part of the project. I'd like to let you know where to get the album (maybe Dick G might carry it) but I can only find an e-mail address. loricullen@yahoo.com

I have another reason to be proud of Lori's work. She told me she started learning to play from watching an old TV series I did. Man, I tell ya friends, that's worth more than all the bucks in the world!

Rick