David Francey thrilled me from the moment, some years ago, that I heard him at the Calgary music festival in a set with Billy Bragg and a teeth-grating singer-songwriter from Vancouver who shall remain un-named in this review. Raised in Scotland and transported to Quebec in his teens, Francey has an incredible instinct for great hooks and compelling stories -- a throwback to the un-recognized souls from former ages who created the songs we still hear today, "Trad., arr." Francey is able to see the drama and the pathos in those ordinary situations we often find ourselves in, and he has an appealing masculinity -- unabashedly smitten with his wife and able to create male characters with passion who still seem to be able to see the world as it is, with clear eyes. So it was with great happiness that I began listening to Francey's lastest efforts. I listened and listened again.

I'm happy to report that Right of Passage find Francey growing as an artist, yet retaining so many of the seductive features that first thrilled me in his live show. Francey's stories of working people with important, ordinary feelings remain compelling, even as they have spread out geographically -- he's moved beyond eastern Canada to roam around the globe, still in homespun company. The songs are longer, which is welcome, while retaining their ability to evoke vivid scenes; best of all, the melodies remain compelling -- even if Francey does occasionally return to the same melodic well -- like Richard Thompson he writes within his vocal range, creating songs suited to his voice. Musically, he's working with some top notch musicians in Craig Werth, Geoff Somers, Shane Simpson and Julia Davie, who have woven understated yet substantial instrumentals around Francey's hypnotic, distinctive, if nasal, voice. If I've written it once, I've written it a thousand times -- a voice people want to hear is treasure from a better place, and one that seems to elude so many otherwise-talented trad and folk groups. David Francey is blessed with such a voice, as well as a sure sense for lyrics. This is Francey's most listenable effort to date, one that will appeal to fans and new audiences alike./P>

So what of the songs? There isn't a stinker amongst this group -- all deserve to be heard widely, and all have memorable hooks. Having said that, there are several standout tunes for me on this album: "New Jerusalem" -- about the current tribulations in the Middle East, "Ballad of Bowser MacRae" -- about a man who's really lived, "A Conversation" -- 'and hasn't time been kind to you', and "Promised Land" -- another song that shows great compassion for the passage of time, and has a lovely fiddle line, and finally one of those unforgettable anthems, "All Lights Burning Bright," which just happens to be begin in one of the favorite towns of my life, Thunder Bay, Ontario. I dare anyone to make it through "All Lights" without their hearts beating just a little bit faster and lighter.

Carols for a Christmas Eve, David Francey's Christmas album, is just what is sounds like -- unadorned carols sung in Francey's distintive voice, simply and without glitz. Like others this season, notably Eileen Ivers, he has created a calm, simple treatment of familiar carols, perhaps an indictment to the insanity of consumerism that lures so many of the unwary into spending their energy on things that are so unlikely to be necessary for our happiness. I found this album to work really well as part of christmas mix that I've been experimenting with (for a party -- lest you doubt that I know of the insanity mentioned above). Played back to back, I found it less appealing, perhaps because the songs are so familiar, though often beloved (yes, dear readers after several years here at Fortress GMR, following a childhood stint as the family member of a parish pastor in small town middle America, I've heard a vast repertoire of carols -- not that this is a bad thing, mind you, but it does tend to make me difficult to, er..., surprise in a Christmas album.) "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Angels We have Heard on High", "The Holly and the Ivy" and "Good King Wenceslas" are all here. As part of mix, Francey's songs were refreshing, and seemed to cut to heart of the songs. If you're revolted by the glitz but still love the season, this is the Christmas album for you.

If you haven't heard David Francey yet, now is the time to remedy that lack -- dare I say Francey might be a need you didn't know you had -- well, I do dare. Run, don't walk.