(26 February 2000) The debut adult contemporary album from piano-based singer songwriter Ginny Owens is entitled Without Condition (Rocketown/Epc (USA) EK63617, 1999). The compact disc isenhanced with interview segments designed to play with Quicktime's16-bit player—the CD will not play on your computer if this is not installed properly. Owens lost her sight at the age of two and overcame significant personal challenges to culminate currentlywith five Dove award nominations and a standing ovation at the BMG Music Showcase at the Sundance Film Festival. Her songs have also been featured in Warner television's Felicity and Roswell. Her full biography, soundbites and further information including artistphotographs are available at Ginny's website.

Without Condition is comprised of eleven tracks of variedcontemporary, vocally strong, styles penned by Ginny alone or withco-writers Michael Puryear, Kyle Matthews or Dwight Liles. Lyrics and themes are often secular in nature. "Be Thou My Vision," which opens the album with Ginny's stunning—almost a capella—vocal performance, is a well known traditional Irish hymn; Joanne Hogg (Iona) also recorded it on her album Looking Into Light (review). The album's title track, "Someone Searching" and "If You Want Me To" continue to develop the album's secular theme. Sensitive ballads sung mainly over piano, the latter has a jazz edge while the first—with itsincredible vocal performance—was featured on WB hit series Felicity, Roswell and Charmed. A mid-tempo heartfelt ballad, "I Am Nothing" further develops the theme with clear vocals and richer instrumentation. The varied texture of thealbum's songs is refreshing.

"I Wanna Be Moved" and "Land Of The Gray" have a more agressive vocal approach with thicker guitar and keyboard lines and contribute significantly Ginny's balanced approach to contemporary music. "Free" was the album's first single and it went straight to the top of various Adult Conteporary charts. Here and in the up-tempo "Springs Of Life" Ginny's vocal work is most reminscent of Andrea Corr (concert review) andthe multitracked backing vocals add significant texture to the artist'soverall sound. The bluesy "Symbol Of A Lost Cause" with its harsher vocalline and thick instrumentation shows yet another side of Ginny's talent.The album closes with "Own Me," a lovely sensitive and heartfelt ballad sung over acoustic piano.

You can order Ginny Owen's Without Condition album via amazon.com here. With excellent support by the industry as evidenced by numerous award nominations and critical acclaim, Ginny has a bright future.Her music certainly should be explored further. Her stunning debut album with its varying styles is certainly a must listen!