What a joy! After being totally sold on this man\'s songwriting and vocal talents at an intimate concert at Sue\'s RealMusik in New York (thanks Sue!) ... I CONTINUE to be knocked out by yet another layer to Eugene\'s music, the production and arrangement on \"the hardest easy\" CD.....what a lush album! Many careful and beautiful arrangements of the songs I found stellar LIVE, with just guitar, and the sensual and perfectly timed backing vocals of Margaret, are now presented on this CD with a bit more layer and instrumentation. (Even a touch more whimsy, as found in the bonus song track.) I\'d be remiss if I did not include as testament to Eugene Ruffolo\'s special songwriting the following story: my beautiful friend \"K\" seated next to me, had tears streaming down her face so fast our little cocktail napkins would not suffice to hold the tears! It was so touching and simply stated. That very song \"a rose for pierrette\"is done beautifully on this album. Eugene, with his hauntingly beautiful vibrato and gentle guitar style, is more than the perfect vehicle for his own sensitve, lovely songs. I think this CD is a must have. I cannot wait to cook dinner for my family tonight with grandma\'s italian recipe and Eugene\'s track \" the hills of sicily\" filling the air with notes, sentiments and aromas! This is ambient storytelling at it\'s best. Thank you Eugene for your lovely gift of music. Some authors write books. This one, writes songs. Bravo.

Fantastic voice,maybe the best male voice I ever heard,beautiful and very touching songs...can you ask for something more?Apsolutely nothing!Thank you Eugene for your wonderful music! :)

The Hardest Easy, Ruffolo’s third album, is his take on the dangers and aspirations of love. On the title track, he makes his mixed feelings clear — affairs of the heart, described in fragile detail, are not without effort, fear, pain, and wavering resolve. He’s certainly not afraid to get dark. “Irreplaceable” and “A Kiss for Your Travels” are desperate, plaintive wails in song form for a dearly departed friend, and the ironically titled “Gracefully” could be a candidate for the songs-to-stab-yourself-over hall of fame (“We walked here together/it takes two to break the vow/from glory to ashes/yeah, just take a look at us now”). Just when you think all is hopeless and lost, Ruffolo smiles and winks with “Run to You”, a spry, clever, “I’m in love with you” ditty with a bouncy groove, major tonality, and a quirky string arrangement, all of which could fit perfectly on side two of the Beatles’ “White Album”. And the uplifting album closer, “Only Love”, speaks for itself in its yearning for The One True Thing, no matter what the cost. Ruffolo’s songs are so holistically complete that it’s easy to gloss-over the rewarding instrumentation. Backing vocals, percussion, strings, and even lap steel guitar weave in and out, seamlessly, almost unnoticeably. You can be lulled into forgetting that acoustic guitar anchors nearly every track. In particular, “The Hills of Sicily” (co-written with Taylor clinician Artie Traum) features a beautiful-sounding, room-miked guitar and rich, complex harmonic textures that make you wonder how he keeps it so simple with so much songwriting and instrumental talent at his disposal. But that’s how Ruffolo’s craft works, and its simplicity in execution only serves to illuminate how far a heart can rise, fall, and rise again. Utterly conventional, yet somehow effortlessly unique in its beauty and emotional expression, this album landed square in my chest and is stuck there still. — Bryan Beller

You look at the girl you love. The time is 8.30 in the evening. The kids are sleeping. Its autumn and its raining outside. Its dark. The candles are burning... You put on "The Hardest Easy" with Eugene Ruffolo and opens a bottle of a nice Rioja... Eugene Ruffolos new album is a lovely piece of plastic. His voice is pure magic. The songs are all through lovely. The production has nothing more to wish for. This is the CD you want Jackson Browne or Marc Jordan to do the year 2004. Lucy Kaplanskys naked voice as the companion in "Poor Lonesome Me" is wonderful. The Lennon Brothers from Venice add their unique way of being on the title track and add another dimension to the tune. The hero Marc Cohn and his piano and vocals in "The Right Thing" has nothing more to wish for. This CD is more than a must if you like me is a jerk for soft mature singer songwriter pop with a westcoast flavour. Eugene Ruffolo is number one in this genre right now. And the evening with the girl you love is the perfect night to survive another autumn in Sweden the year 2004.