Artist: The Piercing Obsidian, Album: Never Had My Kind Before, Song: Fire Burns

"I'm a part of the forest, a stump of a tree that's been cut too many times.  I've been cut too many times."  The Piercing Obsidian is singer songwriter, Andrea Hatala.  She derived her stage name from the name of a gemstone made of volcanic glass.  The shards of glass from this gemstone are known to cause mortal wounds.  Hence the adjective "piercing".  The name might actually suggest a more violent form of music but actually, Andrea purveys more of a folk influenced sound.  She is an excellent songwriter and is joined by a number of local musicians like bassoon player Jeff Burke.  She released her self titled debut EP in 1999 and followed that up in 2004 with this release entitled, Never Had My Kind Before.  The album was actually produced by former Strato-Chief and Absolute Whore's member, Vaughn Passmore (see blogs 8/9/10, 1/21/11).  A great tune from this album is the song, Fire Burns.  You can check it out on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkaO_FJeXyI). You can read about Andrea's band at http://thepiercingobsidian.tripod.com.  You can purchase the sophomore release from The Piercing Obsidian at CDbaby.com.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!