Kim Doolittle bills herself as a singer, songwriter, storyteller & musician and she’s been living in the Peterborough area for some years now. You may remember her from her time here and she’s toured the world singing on cruise ships. She has toiled in semi-obscurity for far too long. Out of it all comes ‘Kim Doolittle Music,’ a blend of blues, country and folk filtered through her East Coast upbringing and featuring her ‘serious pipes,’ as they’ve been called. For this album, she’s enlisted the help of Ken Whiteley, who produced and helped write several of the songs. He also plays his usual assortment of instruments and brought along some other players that you know very well. The title song leads off, a rocking, optimistic song heralding this new chapter in her life – just take a look at that cover photo. Jimmy Bowskill adds lead guitar, Chris Whiteley, harmonica and Amoy Levy & Cecile Levy harmonize beautifully. “Under The Memphis Moon” was written during the IBCs, she says, and is about taking charge. Chris is on trumpet this time with Pat Carey on sax. “Poor Boy (Oh My My)” is a little bit of cajun fun, with Ken on accordion & slide. “Amazing Grace” gets quite an impressive reworking here, a song that obviously means a great deal to her. “Everybody Needs A Good Friend” came about because no one was returning emails/ phone calls and is a well-written plea for personal contact, not social media. Pat Carey gets a fine solo and Doolittle gets to rap a verse! She co-wrote and duets with Suzie Vinnick on “It Just Don’t Work Like That” – you can’t simply forget lovers. Vinnick gets a lovely lead break on guitar. Doolittle’s experiences on those cruise ships and the idiotic musical requests that get made are the subject of “Snowball’s Day In Hell” – delightful. “Some Loves Never Leave” is a gorgeous ballad dedicated to Jeff Healey, with whom she played in the ‘80s. An album at this level of accomplishment has been a long time coming, maybe she’ll finally get the recognition she richly deserves. There is no CD Release Party here yet but the main one is in Port Hope at the United Church, 34 South St. at 7:30pm on April 8. Ken Whiteley will be on hand as well as Healey Band alumnus Rob Quail. The web site is www.kimdoolittlemusic.com.