Cyndi Boste, a truly great singer-songwriter

A couple of weeks ago, I was at the home of my musician mate Chris Green and spent a great afternoon with him and his friend, Cyndi Boste. For such a talent she's a nice, unaffected person. She has some great yarns about messages in bottles, beach-flotsam bottles like this one I snapped recently, only hers have real messages in them.

“American roots-influenced Australian singer-songwriter Boste sounds like her Alabama trailer park has just been flattened by tornadoes – and I mean that in the best way. Her husky blue voice wraps allusive tales of bad treatment and regret in passion and surprising warmth..." **** (four stars)
The L.A. Times

I was a little bit familiar with her work, and liked it, but since then I have seen a video of the gig she did at Bellingen's Cool Creek Cafe last week, and now I'm a fan. All I can say is Cyndi's one of the best singer-songwriters I have heard since I don't know when. Her original work is blues/folk/country/roots/rock, with flavours of some of her influences, Joplin, Dylan, Bolan, Cohen and Browne, and I can imagine Bonnie Raitt and KD Laing singing her songs. Her songs are songs -- her voice is great but they could be covered by many singers as the tunes and lyrics are excellent, as is her guitar work. Songs like 'Leaving Batterham Behind' and many others are so moving -- I'm no music reviewer so I can't find the words.

From her site: "Formerly a private 'discovery' for a few, Cyndi is rapidly gaining a wider audience. Late 2004 saw her on a two-month European tour with Barb Waters taking in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia and the UK. Back home, Cyndi was chosen by US country blues legend Eric Bibb to support him on his 2005 Australian tour through March and April."

Check her out at www.cyndiboste.com, read the reviews, listen to some samples and grab a Christmas present from her CDs online. And spread the secret!

For future reference, I've linked Cyndi's site in the Links list in our sidebar. And I dips me lid to Chris Green for his passionate promotion of this unsung singer's remarkable talents. Without him, I would never have known. The battle is with the Australian music industry, which seems to be looking for gimmicks, and Chris has put his finger on it, so he's doing his bit.

Tagged: music, blues, australia, country-music, independent-music