Album Notes

Singer/songwriter Stephen Shepherd’s new and third CD, Love Heals All Things, contains 12 more original songs in the country rock & folk genre. Like his first two CDs, Einstein’s Hair (2004) and Heartbreak Standard Time (2005), which collectively combined for 14 hit records in Europe, “In The Shade” – a single from Love Heals All Things - has been on the US Roots Music Report at #38 for seven weeks and is currently #11 in Italy and #31 in Sweden.

Described as Gordon Lightfoot with a twang, Stephen Shepherd’s music on Love Heals All Things combines haunting lyrics, vaulting melodies, and superb acoustic guitar, dobra, and piano. While the metaphorical lyrics found in songs like “Shades of Darkness,” “Love Heals All Things,” and “In the Shade” set an introspective mood much like Lightfoot’s music, Shepherd’s literal use of straightforward country lyrics found in his Jimmy Buffet-like song “Eaten By The Rich,” The Eagles-like “City Boy” and “The War’s Never Over,” or Johnny Cash-like “Bought Some Roses” makes the country-edge real.

Perhaps the biggest song on the album is Shepherd’s country song “Wake Me From This Nightmare,” which successfully fulfills a country fan’s need for down home lyrics with a sweeping melody about lost love, while the third verse reaches into a dream-like state to introduce a surreal country sound.

Lighter, melodious songs ( a la Lightfoot) include “Standing Here Like Me,” reflections about a childhood home, and “Seven Miles Away,” a worship & praise song about Christ’s birth.

Finally, two blues tunes hit the mark. “Saturday Morning TV” focuses on the influence of television violence on children, while “Biopsy Blues” chases the notion that medical science can’t cure love sickness.

With his third album, Love Heals All Things and his 36th recorded song in three years, Stephen Shepherd is fast proving to be a prolific and articulate songwriter with compelling cross-genre music.