All That's Left  
Artist: Mike Reeb  
Label: Indie       
 
It takes courage to perform live or in the studio with just the voice, guitar and the song.   When the artists enters the studio for such an undertaking, it goes without the saying, the chances of commercial success are slim.  Even Springsteen or Dylan's stripped down acoustic efforts sold far less than their other more adorned ventures.  Why does an independent artist undertake this at age 27?

I would imagine, like Rilke once stated with respect to writing, because he has to. All That's Left by Chicago singer-songwriter, Mike Reeb is a seven song offering which brings us into the artists view of a world gone askew, but still aflame with the possibility of redemption.  "It's Been A Real Hard Year" opens to the door to this world with a weary poet summing up the events of a year of trial.  There are no questions here.  Just statements of facts.  The personal transcends to the political scene and the hardship a nation faces in need of change.  "The song, We Need a Change," takes us into a deeper look at the psyche of loss, separation in a marriage that is falling a part.   The country, "Like a Wing," seeks to soothe the downtrodden with the universal hope of God's love that 'covers like a wing.'    The music is necessarily spare, clear and straightforward.  This keeps the focus on the song performance providing a sometimes unexpected intimacy.  The trick with this kind of recording is to bring authenticity to a medium that largely uses digital process and synthetics in substitution for the raw, bare to the bone integrity presented here in this fine CD.   
 
Terry Roland

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