Rearview Mirror Tears

So it's no surprise that Rearview Mirror Tears sounds like the assured work
of a veteran artist, rich with an uncanny and winning familiarity, seducing
listeners to spin it again and again. After all, it's the work of a true
artistic natural whose soul is suffused with music, and then on Rearview
Mirror Tears is paired with another equally musical soul, master songwriter
Chip Taylor, composer of such indelible classics as "Wild Thing" and "Angel
of the Morning" and éminence grise of Americana music and the contemporary
folk-rock and singer-songwriter scenes.

It's a collaboration that at first glance may seem like a seasoned veteran
mentoring a gifted protégé, but the album soon reveals something else at
work that's even more vibrant and exciting. The way Carson inhabits the
album's songs with a full, rich presence and stamps her identity into the
music with her vocals and playing tells a different tale: An artistic union
of two friends and kindred musical souls. There's a spirit and life that
pervades Rearview Mirror Tears that can only come between two talents in
prime form enjoying their creativity in full flow.

Carson was all but destined to make memorable music from birth. Growing up
in Victoria, British Columbia, she began playing violin at the tender age
of three. Carson ascended to the upper reaches of the Canadian classical
music world while still young, appearing as a featured guest soloist with
the Victoria Symphony and later joining the National Youth Orchestra of
Canada.

At the same time as she was achieving mastery as a violinist, Carson also
became immersed in the vibrant Canadian folk scene as a fiddler, first with
the BC Fiddle Orchestra and then with her brother Tyler as The Carsons,
later to become the group Kid Carson. Her collaborative nature also later
landed her in the Juno-winning roots music band The Paperboys, with whom
she quickly became a notable member on their most recent album, The Road to
Ellenside. Her duet with lead singer Tom Landa, "Fall Down With You," was
the first video single from the disc and hit #4 on Canada's MuchMoreMusic
video channel.

After first meeting her in 2004, Taylor began offering Carson long-distance
encouragement and guidance in the months that followed. With Taylor in his
most prolific and inspired state within an already prolific and inspired
career, their creative alliance bloomed. By the time they hit the studio
for a couple of days of recording in 2006, magic wasn't just in the air but
in fact captured on the tracks they quickly laid down. On Rearview Mirror
Tears, they create an album of music that feels like it was not just meant
to be, but ready to emerge and capture the ears of the world at large. With
an organic ambience of natural artistry in unfettered flow, the sessions
became an album by an artist in first full flowering. Ranging with ease and
engaging charm through a variety of roots music modes and emotional and
musical moods, Rearview Mirror Tears is one of those exceptional creations
that feels memorable and meaningful from its very first notes.

So even though Taylor wears such hats on Rearview Mirror Tears as producer,
songwriter, singer and record label, his true role was ultimately
encouraging Carson, a fellow talent and peer (despite any age difference),
to become who she is and all that she is able to become. And as Taylor sees
it, it's ultimately Carson's artistic capacities rather than his own that
makes Rearview Mirror Tears all that it is. For Carson, her delectably
winning debut album is one of those pivotal artistic and life lessons whose
rewards will inform everything to come along her already lengthy and
fulfilling musical journey that is sure to continue for some time to come.