Critical Acclaim for "The Road!"

The music is getting out there and people are getting it!

TrueHeart "The Road," 2007 Decidedly and unabashedly mainstream, TrueHeart, aka singer-songwriter Ross Vick and whoever is backing him up, actually lists Christopher Cross as an influence on his MySpace page. That takes cajones. He is a mid-life career-changer from Texas -- now off the corporate merry-go-round-who has a voice that could be twenty-two. It is pristine, pop-ready, without a trace of the passing years that must have threatened to bury him. They haven't. Instead of fronting a corporate logo band, he is placing songs, opening for the Beach Boys and racking up chart stats on several fronts. What a freaking late bloomer. You've gotta hear his "Save Me" for its sheer Adult Contemporary "dare ya" indulgence, like Bacharach on testosterone. He sports a bit of Fogelberg's earnestness and Marshall Crenshaw's enthusiasm. And yes, I admit, I do hear a bit of Christopher Cross in the mix. © Steve Klingaman