Jesse Smith’s 10-song debut is a stunner. She co-wrote all of the songs, most with her husband and producer Neilson Hubbard. As compelling as those songs are, the magic is in her voice. A classically trained vocalist she is an impressive lyricist, as well. The lead off song, “Lighting Up The World” is about coming out of the darkness. She sings, “I thought I needed a man/to love me out of my pain…I ran off like a bat out of hell/I went from house to house bed to bed…I looked to the sky and thought what if I was/lighting up the world, and I didn’t even know?” Backed by Neilson Hubbard (producer and percussion), Danny Mitchell (keyboards), Evan Hutchings drums), Dean Marold (bass), Will Kimbrough (guitars) and vocalists Lo Carter and Audrey Spillman Ms. Smith taps into multiple emotions of the collection. On “Junkyard God” she sings of finding salvation. “I found god in a junkyard, twisted in the metal and rust/chrome lit up like a burning bush…I felt my peace in the broken/crumbled in the hoods and trunks/made my friends in the weeds and snakes/slither juke jive and shake/in the junkyard.” This may be her debut, but it is clearly the result of hard and reflective living by a brilliant song writer.