On occasion we are fortunate to hear a voice that rings true. One that is hard to forget. A vocal delivery filled with cracks and crevices that belie a difficult past. Simultaneously hopeful and haunting, it is impossible to get out of your head…let alone your heart. A cry from deep in the valley where the spirit of a song lives and the necessity of its telling is born. This is the case with 28 year old Seattle singer-songwriter, Shawn McDonald. On McDonald's second studio offering , Ripen, the humble songwriter carves out 15 stories with the urgency and earnest of a town crier.