This is a CD that will work best if you use it on your computer first. It has two music video tracks included, which it mentions with a sticker on the case. What it does not mention is that the enhanced CD section also offers the lyrics, information on the band, a photo gallery and various marketing items. It also offers a music player called WEBeCD.

I mention all of this first because the physical packaging is quite sparse and could so easily have made this CD, Waltz of the Scarecrow King by Gary Myrick, less desirable.

The music is varied and often haunting with some flashes of both humour and mysticism. The general theme is one of songs about being a musician.

"Honk if You Love Jesus" is a tale of early morning rolling into towns seeing "vampire housewives honking their horns." It is not a fundamentalist religious song as I first assumed from the title. The track "Fame is Dangerous" cites Lennon, Presley and Kennedy and the price one pays when success and fame come to those who seek it. "Hometown Waltz" is another simple song re-telling the musicians' life about "tour buses and radio make a man insane."

As with all self-penned albums, one wonders how autobiographical the songs are. "Gary's Lament" would appear from the title to be one such song. "The Ghost of Elvis" continues this chronicle of the life (real or imagined) of a life in music.

I liked this CD quite a lot. The songs may be a little too personal to be hits for other singers but it would be very interesting to hear more from Gary Myrick.