Canadian singer-songwriter Rose Cousins was chosen as one of five co-winners in the 2007 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest for performing songwriters. Originally from a potato farm on Canada's Prince Edward Island — much like the one in the book and TV drama Anne of Green Gables, as Cousins mentions — she performs songs from her third CD, If You Were For Me, in a set recorded in December 2007.
Cousins' voice conveys an earnest sense of heartbreak and yearning on songs such as "Good Enough" and "February," while an Ani DiFranco influence shows itself on "Pale Love." Cousins invites mandolin player Mark Schimick, who performed with Larry Keel & Natural Bridge elsewhere on the radio broadcast, to join her on "Dance If You Want To." A song Cousins has yet to record, "February" gets its proper debut in the U.S. here.
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