Review of Rose Child

Tom Geddie
Buddy Magazine (November, 2004)

There is something so appealing in the sound of a classically trained voice singing sincere, heart-felt, folk-based songs.  Even more so when the primary accompaniment is piano.  There is something so clean and pure here, even if the two genres, classical and folk, seem so far apart.

On Rose Child, Jeannie Clark Fisher shares 10 original songs about, among other subjects, corporate greed, the fading American dream, the environment, child abuse, aging parents, and simply talking to each other.

"Daddy, Why?" is the CD's strongest song, told from the viewpoint of a lonely child wondering why her father disappeared, wondering whether she is to blame, wondering what the future holds.

"So Many Things" is a simple praise for spending time with someone you love.

Fisher plays piano and guitar; Judi Altstatt ceramic flute, clarinet, penny whistle, hammer dulcimer, and background vocals.

Performing as the duo Twice as Far, Fisher and Altstatt released a fine, eponymous, folk CD a couple of years ago that's worth tracking down. Fisher's daughter, Sarah Lynn Fisher, now a graduate student in musicology at the University of Arizona, released a seven-song, piano-and-vocals CD, Thank You For Your Time, in 2000 that spent more hours in my CD player than any other recording for a couple of years.