Susan Gibson

Outer Space (ForTheRecords)

“Wide Open Spaces” was Susan Gibson’s calling card, an engraved platinum invitation into her world of introspection and endless horizons. For her second solo album, Outer Space, Gibson’s still free falling from Hitsville, floating between sunny optimism (“First Sign of Spring”) and moonstruck cynicism (“Company Man,” “Stop the Bleeding”). “It goes around and around and I always end up where I started,” she sings plaintively on “Too Big Love,” illustrating her frustration with Cupid’s bow. Yet love has never seemed high on Gibson’s priority list. More salient to her restless soul is spiritual survival (“Still Time,” “Sister Hood”), a theme repeated throughout Outer Space. “I’d rather be a comet than a star” she opines bluntly on “Happiest When I’m Moving,” penned with Jim Lauderdale, one of six songs co-written with the likes of Randy Scruggs and Jack Saunders. With a live version of “Wide Open Spaces” as the LP’s ringer, Gibson reprises her hit and reaffirms her determined direction down heartfelt highways. Outer Space doesn’t evince the gritty resolve of her first solo outing, 2002’s Chin Up, with its liberating catharsis, yet it’s clear Gibson is comfortable in all manner of places as well as wide, open, and yes, even outer spaces.

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This article appears in July 29 • 2005.

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