Penguin Eggs
Spring 2006
(Canadian folk roots music magazine)
critic's albums of the year

1. Lynn Miles - Love Sweet Love
2. Eliza Gilkyson - Paradise Hotel
3. John Prine - Fair & Square
4. Le Vent Du Nord - Les Amants du Saint-Laurent
5. Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche a Bamako
6. The Duhks - The Duhks
7. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - In The Heart of The Moon
8. Tom Russell - Hotwalker
9. Melwood Cutlery - Campfire
10. Terry Tufts - The Better Fight

The Better Fight - Review from Penguin Eggs - by Mike Sadava

"It's hard to dispute Terry's promo material. The guy has a rich voice, nimble fingers and serious songwriting ability. This album should give Tufts more of a national stature. There's a lot of depth here, a lot of reasons for coming back to this disc. He can write a convincing love song, an edgy polemic, perform a worthy cover of the Isley Brothers I've Got Work To Do and work an instrumental along the lines of Don Ross.

Like many other Ottawa folkies, Tufts has absorbed the Bruce Cockburn influence. That might be my one criticism. There's nothing wrong with political engagement, but like Cockburn, Tufts is just a tad too serious for my taste. Hopefully in future outings he'll lighten up and get the message across with a little more subtlety and humour."