I'm Ready

James O'Malley: Eloquent Debut Album

     

James O'Malley is a boyish, 50-something songwriter in the midst of resuscitating a long dormant music career. Lucky for us. Once a member of the '70s folk-rock trio known as The Braid, O'Malley is a hugely talented lyricist and musician who writes with remarkable alacrity of life's foibles, triumphs and defeats without wallowing in self-pity. Neither does he bore us with cliches, overstatement or self aggrandizement.

Instead, the 14 original tunes on I'm Ready, his self-produced debut album on Gable Wing Records, are all well-crafted, hook-laden gems that demonstrate a penchant for songwriting at once original and insightful. In the self-penned liner notes O'Malley confesses: "I look upon it as a letter, long since written, but never mailed," adding "my hope is that the message be received with the love that is was sent."

"I'm Ready" showcases a gifted songwriter poised at the threshold of a loftier position in the ranks of American singer/songwriters. With this long-awaited debut CD, James O'Malley serves notice that he is more than a little ready to break through to a wider, national audience.