There's magic in Corinne West's voice. It aches and breaks. It soars. It's clear, penetrating and washed in emotion. When she wraps that voice around songs as sublime as those on her latest CD, Second Sight, she's spellbinding. That's because she's unlocked the secret that so many singers spend entire careers looking for and never find.

It's right there on Second Sight. It's in every note and lyric. But most important, it's there in West's voice. What's the secret? Great singers are great communicators and every note sung can be a complete story in itself.

She knows giving listeners an unfettered glimpse into the raw and wild places of the soul is part of her job requirement. So she sings the story of life unfolding- sometimes brutal, sometimes beautiful, but always honest.

She learned about the importance of communication early in her musical career when she joined a nomadic group of artists traveling around the country in a converted school bus. She was 15 and dropped out of school to tour the country.

"I left home and school really young," she says. "I was a wild energetic kid, and I had this incredible wanderlust from a very early age. People always assume something heavy happened at home but that wasn't the case. It just wasn't all that great. Everything seemed really static. I wasn't being offered anything I could sink my teeth into. Then I met a group of traveling artists and activists and that finally lit me up. I found a window into a different way of life and I jumped through it."

"Living on a bus and being a young teenager among counter-culture artists had a massive impact on me. I met a lot of characters and saw many many ways to live... some crazy, some sane. I realized that the world was chock full of possibility, and that a creative life was a potent way to contribute, make statements, and have a great time. And I had this guitar..."

So, with guitar in hand, Corinne hit the road and began busking- performing live in public in return for tips. That's where she earned her master's degree in delivering the soul of a song. It was a solid training ground for someone who had never taken formal music lessons and taught herself to play.

She immersed herself in the process, but her love affair with music took root well before that. At five years old she was writing and singing tunes to whomever would listen - often her parents or their friends who she would steal away one at a time during parties, but more often to the sky or a little girl's version of God in her room at night.

Her grandfather was also an influence. While he wasn't a musician, he exposed her to the power and magnetism of live music.

"My grandfather started taking me to honkytonks when I was 11 and taught me how to two-step," says West. "There were always big live country bands playing at the clubs. I would move across that dance-floor following his lead, beneath the band and the colored lights, in a swingin' sea of dancers. Grandpa always knew everyone in the club. The two-beat would start and he would hit the floor with whoever was ready to step. It was love and magic and I was with my champion."

No one knew that the two-step and childhood songs would lead her to the life of a musician. That idea began germinating while she was busking. She loved the energy and excitement of playing to a live crowd. Returning to her native California, she pursued music with a newfound passion.

Corinne joined her first band at 19 and poured her heart into making music. The group ultimately dissolved, as did several others she joined thereafter. The break-ups were understandable but disappointing.

"I got tired of democratic bands always blowing up," she says. "Everyone has a different vision of what they want. It's like being in the kitchen with three other people and one wants Mexican, one sushi, and one Cajun. Sometimes all you end up with is a big mess and a stomachache. I got to the point where I didn't want to be in another situation where everything stopped before it got off the ground, so I started writing and performing my own material."

Choosing that path led to an explosion of creativity. She honed her craft and developed her own signature sound. It was a heady mix with the intensity of rock, the sincerity of country, the storytelling of bluegrass, and the wide-openness of Americana.

Corinne soon had enough songs for an album and began recording what would become her debut CD, Bound For The Living. Put together on a shoestring budget over the course of months, the album made West a rising star on the acoustic music scene.

She toured relentlessly and won rave reviews from Maverick, Relix, and SingOut!, among others. She also was named a finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting competition. That, in turn, launched her onto the national festival circuit.

The other side of the Atlantic fell in love with her music when BBC legend Bob Harris began featuring her on his radio show. That led to a tour of England and Ireland in early 2007.

Her travels and the response from Bound inspired a new batch of songs and new level of confidence in her music. Always willing to stretch her artistic boundaries, she brought producer Mike Marshall on board for her second album. Marshall is an acoustic music legend having collaborated with such icons as David Grisman, Mark O'Connor, Bela Fleck, and Edgar Meyer. It was exhilarating working with an outside producer after self-producing her debut record.

"Mike is brilliant and it was an honor to work with him," says Corinne. "He was so focused on making sure we served the songs well. It took the recording process to a whole new level."

The music also inspired Marshall to recruit top-shelf artists like Jerry Douglas, Darol Anger, and Tony Furtado to play on the album.

The care and craftsmanship West and Marshall poured into Second Sight shines through every aspect of the recording. From the opening turbo acoustic, breakneck bluegrass of the title track, Corinne casts a spell that's hard to escape. She segues from the blues-tinged world-weariness of "Roses To Rust" to the plucky, vibrant positivity of "Hell Yes" without missing a beat.

Second Sight is a strong, focused, and emotionally powerful album rich with stellar musicianship, expressive vocals, and songs that pierce to the core and sooth the soul. Throughout, the most dynamic instrument is West's highly emotive voice. At turns subtle and sophisticated, unbridled and passionate, it captures and conveys both the fragility and strength of the human spirit and translates the mysteries of the heart into something tangible.

And if that's not magic, what is?