Cyndi Thomson: My World : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Twenty-four-year-old Georgia native Cyndi Thomson is a down-home country girl -- there's even a picture of her sloppin' the hogs in the booklet of this, her debut album. But it's Thomson's very small-town sensibility, which makes her songs of love, loss, regret and desire so honest and appealing. In a sexy and understated twang reminiscent of Deana Carter, Thomson writes and sings of missed opportunities ("What I Really Mean to Say"), longing ("If You Were Mine"), and broken relationships ("I'll Be Seeing You," "I Always Liked That Best") with a wisdom beyond her years. Producer Tommy Lee James has wisely put Thomson's voice right up front, and surrounded it with organic, earthy instrumentation -- banjos, fiddles and penny whistles -- creating an intimate, almost hushed atmosphere in which every single word hits home. That restraint makes My World a refreshing sonic experience -- Thomson resists the temptation to over-sing, even on a number like the Kim Richey-penned girl-power anthem "I'm Gone." In an age when female country singers seem to get over on sheer lung power and pop gloss, a visit to Thomson's world is a breath of sweet country air.

ANDREA DRESDALE
(July 30, 2001)