It's often said that the key to effective song writing is to "write what you know." Massengill's songs are all rooted firmly in his hometown (Bristol, Tennessee), and concern themselves with the people of that community, his family and his childhood. Before you even get to the music, the CD booklet grabs your attention. It's a facsimile of an old photograph album, with one or more wonderfully evocative images to accompany the lyrics of each song.

Those lyrics are, quite simply, extraordinary. This is one of those very rare CDs where reading the lyric booklet works just fine as an enjoyable activity in itself. "The Great Holston Mountain Rescue of 1954," "Aunt Fannie and the Yankees," "Where Did Miss Nancy Sterett Go?" "Cousin Jackie and Mamaw's Hedges,"; heck, you can happily lose yourself just in those titles!

The CD opens with a short, spoken word prologue entitled "The First Time My Father Saw My Mother." The speaker is the artist's father, (David Massengill Snr), who recounts that when he first met his future bride, he said to his two army buddies "I'm going to marry that girl!" That story is immediately taken up in "The Girl from Nebraska," where the singer's voice glides effortlessly over a cascading waltz - time melody. There isn't a wasted word here, just beautifully observed simplicity: "

At the GI canteen they danced to a tune by Fats Waller
They danced once, they danced twice
They danced 'til he spent his last dollar.

"My First Kiss" utilises a driving, country - rock backing to accompany the salacious bean - spilling. Actually, it's not salacious at all, as that "first kiss" took place in a stolen moment during rehearsals for a second-grade school enactment of "The Billy Goats Gruff!" There's plenty of laugh-out-loud lines, such as "Christopher Wilson played the troll / he was a member of the safety patrol," and "O wondrous kiss! I would not try / To kiss another girl 'til Junior High." The (willing!) recipient of the kiss (yes, you Jane Keany!) is pictured smiling angelically from a class picture next to the lyrics.

"Shamas Rides" is a staggeringly good song about a man and his bicycle.

The first time I saw Shamas
He was standing in the snow
He waved to every passing car
Just why, I did not know.
Shamas rides all over town
He makes sure everything's alright.

I've never been within two thousand miles of Bristol Tennessee, but I used to know Shamas too. Where I used to live (Warwickshire, England), his name was Ernie. A lesser songwriter would have filled the lyric with patronising, hand wringing sentimentality and terms like "learning difficulties." Massengill merely observes that "Every town should have a Shamas.... Shamas is a shaman."

"The Great Holston Mountain Rescue of 1954" tells of how Massengill's father and two of his old friends from his Boy Scout days decided to recreate the hiking adventures of their youth. Somehow the intrepid threesome managed to get hopelessly lost until another friend came and rescued them with his boat. This is a masterful piece of sustained, expertly timed storytelling. The hikers return home safely to be greeted with the joy of their families and the fury of their old Scoutmaster....

"My Home Must Be a Special Place," is a deceptively guileless lyric acknowledging the tremendous gift of loving parents. Again, the writer avoids the pitfalls of "sermonizing" (about family values), and allows simple rhymes the time and space to do their work "I see my Mom and Dad embrace / My home must be a special place." The full significance of this song is only realised after the following song, "Culture Hurts." When Massengill's father was twelve, his mother decided that he should grow up a gentleman, so music lessons were duly booked with a Mr Kataldo. The song starts as darkly comic before becoming merely dark. Kataldo emerges as a sadist whose preferred teaching method is to beat the hands of his students whenever they play a wrong note. Unsurprisingly, this does nothing to improve the confidence of a twelve-year-old, so the beatings become heavier and more regular. Eventually the boy runs away, and sends home a postcard:

I've run away from home and I'm never coming back
For as long as Mr Kataldo is still a maniac
And when I am forgiven
For whatever it is I did
I hope that you'll remember
I'm just a little kid.

His "reward" for running away is... yes; you've guessed it. "My dad grew up a gentleman / They beat it into him."

"Cousin Jackie and Mamaw's Hedges," recalls happier memories, of times spent with an older cousin at an Aunt's house, "just down the street." Cousin Jackie had an impressive collection of comic books (that Massengill loved to peruse before he could even read), and was an expert in the grown-up art of hedge cutting. "Far away, long ago. I miss you so." The intriguingly titled "Mrs Creedle Was My First Love," is a song that I've been playing to every unsuspecting visitor since the day that this CD arrived. Mrs Creedle was a family friend who used to look after Massengill when he was four years of age. Occasionally she could be persuaded to let him play "hooky" from kindergarten, and accompany her on shopping expeditions instead. The final verse contains such a brilliant punch line that I'm not going to reveal it here. Suffice to say that when I first heard it, my wife came rushing into the room to see what I was snorting and guffawing about so loudly.

"Aunt Fannie and the Yankees," is a tale from the Massengill family history concerning a great - aunt's Civil War adventures in 1863. Aunt Fannie caught the eye of a "Yankee" captain and "light-hearted banter did commence." For all that this captain "seemed to enjoy her thrust and parry / more than the battle earlier," we're told in the last verse that "Preserved in time, aunt Fannie's homestead /There is a hole plowed through the wall / And on a plaque so you'll remember / Made by a Yankee cannonball." "Where Did Miss Nancy Sterett Go?" is another hilarious schoolroom story. Miss Sterett was the teacher less than impressed by young Massengill laughing inappropriately at his friends "gaseous gaffe" while he should have been conjugating Latin - "Commodio, commodiae, / And then commodious...."

The CD closes with "My Hometown," and a spoken epilogue entitled "Old Letters in a Rolltop Desk." The song contains the lines "All my friends from my hometown / Have come around today / We have told a tale or two / And some were true, hooray!" Whether these tales are true or not is neither here nor there. Every single one of them is a superbly crafted vignette of ordinary life which together add up to towering achievement of an album.

Look, we've got this far into the review without so much as a mention of the actual music! Massengill himself plays guitar and Appalachian dulcimer (which he slings round his shoulder, like a guitar) and is supported by a hugely impressive cast of singers and folks with guitars, basses, drums, violins, accordions and mandolins. The musicianship is, (to lift a little-used "song word" from "My Hometown") exemplary. Massengill's singing is rich and expressive, clear and true, and his tunes fit his lyrics perfectly.

This being a review, (and a very long one!) you're probably wondering when the "I was, however, disappointed ..." bit is coming. There isn't one. The only reason that this is such a long review is that I could talk about this album all day. In fact, in the time that it's taken you to read this, you could probably have listened to it yourself. Please do so very soon as this is, quite simply, one of the best CD's that I've heard all year.

 David Massengill's Web site is here.