Judy Krueger's biography presents a life full of music. As the daughter of a music teacher, she studied piano and violin throughout her school years. She took up the acoustic guitar in her teens and later spent a decade earning a living as a lead singer with a Top 40 cover band in Michigan. Ten years ago, Judy moved to Los Angeles and took her music to the burgeoning coffeehouse circuit. Her own label, Offworld Records, has released her self-written music on two full-length CDs. Keep the Wisdom, her latest, is a full production effort recorded in Nashville with producer Johnny Pierce.

Judy's voice is a thin but strong, fluid alto with a lilting vibrato that surfaces at the end of each phrase. Her natural, flawless delivery gives you the feeling that she recorded each track on the first take and could do it over and over again. Her melodies are technically simple but skillfully crafted with a comfortable flow and just enough hook to make them stick.

On her website, Judy says, "I love a good song more than anything. The challenge of condensing a story and a viewpoint into a few verses and a chorus is like a good game to me." Her lyrics often describe the influence of universal opposing concepts such as freedom and restriction, happiness and pain, or conformity and individuality, on people in their everyday lives. "Go Your Way" tells of a young man whose good intentions are tempered by others until he eventually "takes the easy way inspired by how others seem to win." The woman in "Fly Free" is contemplating a life change but can't "see what's on the other side" because "she's caught up in the net of all those goodies she can get if she plays along and does what she's supposed to do." In "Hey Little Girl," an old woman, a young lady and a little girl are each asked why, in imperfect situations, they are smiling. They each answer, "That's the way I'm s'posed to be." Judy believes in the basic goodness of people and in their ability to "make life a work of art." Her lyrics describe the journey toward that end in an imperfect world.

Other subjects of Judy's songs include love and freedom. "Where Are You," "No Promises" and "One and Only Love" are about loves searched for, worked on and found. "Pages" covers the life cycle of a relationship with lyrics that read like poetry. "Moon in the Morning Sky" and "Earthbound" both speak of seeking personal and spiritual freedom. This is a recurring theme in Judy's songs and is also a tenet in the religion of Scientology, which she credits with much of her success.

Judy accompanies herself on acoustic guitar and her producer, Johnny Pierce, adds guitar, mandolin and bass. A group of Nashville session musicians rounds out the sound with a variety of keyboard, string, percussion and wind instruments. The arrangements are well done and add interest and mood to the simple, mostly moderate tempo melodies. The focus though, is on Judy's vocals and lyrics.

Although Judy Krueger is a self-described folksinger, the music on this CD doesn't feel like folk music to me. Many of these tunes would be at home in an easy listening or adult-contemporary format. Undoubtedly, Judy feels passionately about her music, but her calm, subtle manner masks this depth of feeling. Judy's mellow musical style probably won't move you to tears or to dancing or to political action, but it works for her. Me? Well, given the choice, I'd rather listen to music that makes me want to dance, fall in love, pierce something, get a new bumper sticker or forget what I was supposed to be doing....