Truth & Lies

Trial lawyer by day, folksinger/songwriter by night. You're excused if you see that as combination tha bodes for some bad music. But Orlando artist Doug Spears must really be chafing in the courtroom in that suit, because he's an accomplished songwriter, and his new disc, Truth & Lies, is burnished like an old hardwood floor. A fourth-generation Floridian, Spears writes about what he knows: Florida. "Teppintine" is a lament to the hardscrabble life of the turpentine harvesters; "A Mother's Tears" relates the tale of Lewis Powell, a Live Oak resident who was hanged for his part in the conspiracy to assissinate President Abraham Lincoln; "Banks of the Old St. John's" is about exactly what you think it is. With a voice reminiscent of John Denver and a full acoustic backup band, Spears has put out a folk/Americana disc that's as enjoyable for the local storytelling as it is for the musicianship.