First things first: "A Storm Is Coming" sounds lovely. The singing and playing are full of relaxed confidence, a gentle sway that draws the listener in. It's tinged with country, spiced with a little blues, and centered around a rhythmic kind of small-group folk-rock that never stops leaning forward. You could lie in a hammock and listen to this all night.Then phrases from the lyrics seep into your consciousness: "It's just business, he said, as he smiled so seriously ..." (to a tune that puts a smile on your face). And: "Mrs Jones, we regret that your son has been killed in the war ..." Or: "I remember a time when a tousled haired child went walking with old Father Time ..." As the words sink in, you start to understand that this is seriously adult music, made by people who have lived, and learned to accept their lives as they really are, not just as they wish they were. It's not exactly political, it's just real. Even the joyful "Out on the Town Again" includes the wry commentary: "So now I've cast my hook and all I see, / Are glimpses of my insecurity. / I never want to feel this way again; / I never want to feel the same."Tim and Laura have spent years singing silly for kids -- but kids are a tough audience, and the kids certainly knew (even if they didn't know they knew) that the Battersby Duo could be silly about lost socks and elephants' toenail pizza precisely because their hearts were always in the right place. They always encouraged children to read and learn and appreciate the world around them. Now, under the name Cross Creek (just so no one gets confused), they are singing for the parents, and for themselves.Will this recording change the world? I doubt it, and I don’t think it's really meant to. It’s just part of the world, and the world is better for that.

The songs on "A Storm is Coming," the new CD from The Battersby Duo, are so gently, sweetly thought-provoking. There’s a certain wonderful homely American quality..... just a little melancholy (except for that Magical Youth, which is heart-wrenching), which is just the thing for us folks who’ve learned a thing or two about navigating those crocodile-infested waters of life. But by no means resigned to it !We’re still able to enjoy going Out on the Town and dancing wickedly close in smoky bluesy barrooms. Fantasy, perhaps. Or not... who knows. And though we may be defiantly set in our ways like the Old Man and his southern comfort, we can still learn and adapt and we hope other folks can as well. The 12 songs on "A Storm is Coming" are blisteringly sincere and come straight from the heart. I love the album.