When a song hits the spot, it's transformative. A good song evokes, entices. It can be our rally cry, our voice against oppression, our way out. It can be the fastest conduit to our deepest emotion and the only source of clarity for a head full of confusion. It transports us out of the mundane and plants us smack in the middle of another time in our lives, perhaps with a past love or among the hopes of a new one.

Canadians Gordie Tentrees and Jennie Sosnowski co-wrote a sweet transformative gem as the title track of the latest album, Mercy or Sin. It's about two young lovers' desire for each other and the anticipation of what that love will bring. Yukon boy meets Prairie girl. I listen to that lighthearted, loping beat throughout and it pulls me right along with them, "hoping for mercy, hoping for sin."

We were lucky enough to nab this recording (including Gordie, Jennie, and Ken Hermanson) on the Music Fog bus at the Folk Alliance. We've since learned that "Mercy or Sin" is a finalist out of 15,000 entries in the Americana music category of the International Songwriting Competition. How cool is that?! Voting takes place next month by an esteemed panel of judges including Tom Waits, Jeff Beck, Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis, Robert Earl Keen, James Cotton and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Ready to slip away?

-Denise