Tom Pacheco, There Was a Time - 58m 51s

Tracks & Durations

1. Indian Prayer (The Land I Love)	5:27
2. If I Could Come Back	4:15
3. Broken Piano	5:52
4. Butterfly	7:12
5. What About Us	4:35
6. There Was a Time	4:54
7. Provincetown	6:34
8. What We Left Behind	3:46
9. Heroes	5:44
10. Saint Christopher and the Cornfield	5:46
11. You Will Never Be Afraid Again	4:39

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Review

Veteran singer-songwriter Tom Pacheco wears his world on his sleeve. In a career spanning more than 35 years, over a dozen albums and 2500 original songs, Pacheco has addressed social and political issues, depicted a gallery of real and imagined characters from the past, present and future, and created a living treasury of unforgettable images. On "There Was a Time," Tom's twelfth solo album and first American release in six years, he adds still more memorable people, places and events to his songbook, but it's a darker world that he describes.

Despite an avowed dislike of nostalgia, the death of his mother, serious illness of his father, and loss of three friends in the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11 plunged Pacheco into a period of uncertainty and reflection about the passing of time - many of the songs on "There Was a Time" take stock of what's vanished from Tom's and our world and what needs to be recalled and reclaimed.

The songs on this CD express anger, irony and regret at corporate greed ("What About Us"), the betrayal or failure of the American Dream ("There Was a Time," "Indian Prayer," "What We Left Behind," "Saint Christopher and the Cornfield"), and personal loss ("Provincetown," "If I Could Come Back"). But, as Tom writes in the liner notes, "there are still glimmerings of hope and spiritual resurrection" in these and other songs. He honors the brave and inspirational chance-takers among us - "Butterfly" is a tribute to Julia "Butterfly" Hill, who took up residence in a California redwood tree to save the surrounding forest from a lumber company; "Heroes" thanks our professional guardians and their unpaid everyday counterparts called to greatness by emergencies such as 9/11, and the CD ends with the exhortation and challenge, "You Will Never Be Afraid Again."

Pacheco's stoic, understated baritone and guitar playing are embedded in a warm musical backdrop provided by noted producer/bassist Scott Petito, guitarist Jim Weider and Rick Bell (both latter-day members of The Band), renowned fiddler Jay Ungar, Norwegian country music star and longtime Pacheco collaborator Steinar Albrigtsen on guitar, and special guest Pete Seeger on banjo.

This is a folk album in the best sense, transcending time even while describing the topical and painting mental pictures that will not fade.

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