Out of Fort Atkinson Wisconsin hails a country singer with a dream of making music to be heard all around this great world and make people happy. His name is Wade Vincent Root and he is doing just that. He has spent most of his life practicing his trade and his years of effort allow his songs to reveal all of his hard work with interpretive clarity and delightful musical sounds.

     Our Bed of Roses is Wade's second CD release and it is a mixture of get-you-up-dancing tunes to beautiful ballads. Wade and his band has a unique ability to provide exacting precision to every song yet they have warmth, texture, and even grit. His choice of material fits his style and voice perfectly. The title song is a beautiful story about love lost and remembrance through a beautiful rose garden. Wade's voice and the beautiful instrumentation including a blending of fiddle, huge swelling pedal steel, guitars, piano and a bass and drum unit with the accuracy of an atomic clock create a musical event that has you wanting to listen to it over to hear each detail in the lyric and music. The opening rocker, "She Don't Know What Its Like", caught my attention in the first few bars with it's sustaining slide guitar and razor sharp fiddle parts. The recording quality of the entire CD is very good. "Mama's Long Leggin" is a fun dance floor tune that bounces along at breakneck speed with musical twists and turnarounds from all of the backing musicians that show off some of the best country chops you will ever hear. Despite the amazing talent packed into the backing group, no one steals the spotlight letting each note shine through as a group. The ballad, "If You Think Your Lonely" is a tearful lament about how sad a lonely man could be. Wade's voice hits all of the right inflections and phrasing to create the ballad you want to listen to over and over again. I found myself wistfully singing along with this one and as I turned my head while stopped at a traffic light, I noticed the next car over enjoying my expressive vocal attempts with a group of smiles. Whoops--how embarrassing but what a good song! "Somewhere Under The Rainbow", "That Makes One Of Us", "Leave Me A Picture Of You", are three more of my favorite ballads on this disc.

     Notable is Wade's web site at www.wadevincentroot.com where you can find details about Wade's music and family as well as he and his wife's work at Family Ties LLC. Family Ties has several family run care units attending to partial ambulatory men and women where they can experience a full home lifestyle.

     All in all, you will find the musicianship, vocals, and work on this album to be superb. Every detail of musical expertise is here in droves. I highly recommend this CD and after listening to this one, I am in search of his first release!


Steve Ekblad--2-2002

Wade and family at their

Fort Atkinson, WI homestead

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