Genre: Folk/Acoustic/Americana, Pop/Rock
For fans of: Damien Rice, Shane & Shane, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, John Mayer
Label: Sparrow/EMI

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The most unique sound that reaches the ear upon listening to "Roots" isn't the sinewy, snaking interplay of percussion and bass, or the empyrean voices wafting through the ether. Nor is it the watery, warbling guitars, skewed tinkling of toy piano, drowsily yawning horns or reedy wheezes of accordion, though those rich sonic textures definitely aren't the makings of just any old song. The rarest sound is that of an artist and a truly wise man describing the soil in which he's grounded his soul through the changing seasons.

Oh, men like these, they are just like trees planted near streams of water …

That artist and wise man is Shawn McDonald and his chronicle of lived wisdom is Roots, a collection of 12 transparent meditations on the divine sustenance that feeds the soul, his third dispatch from the studio and fifth overall album. These earthy folk-soul pearls explore elements that the 30 year old Oregon-raised, Seattle-based singer-songwriter has learned are essential for life, health and growth—clear, uninterrupted vision; fear-shattering trust; delight in truly good things rather than stomach-sickening junk; an unhurried rhythm of life that embraces each season as it comes; the contentment to hold whatever God brings in an open hand.

If Simply Nothing—McDonald's 2004 debut—was the cathartic cry of a young man who'd traveled darkened paths alone only to be stared in the face with his desperate need for God, and Ripen was the raw-hearted vignette of a young man stretched by the weight of new responsibilities, then Roots is a portrait of that same man savoring the wealth of lessons learned through marriage (he and his wife Kate are entering their third year), new fatherhood (baby boy Cohen Reid McDonald arrived in April of 2007) and a pilgrimages to foreign lands (Zimbabwe and Israel, to be exact). You might call it musical wisdom literature of a sort. "This is the message that I want to come across: being a man that flourishes in Christ," he shares. "For me it was a time of rejoicing in the growth that I feel like God has put into my life."

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