Flashback. I had a really good flashback with the first Christy McWilson song I’ve ever heard. I went back in time to how I felt and exactly what I was doing in 1962 when I first heard the bold new voice of Dusty Springfield singing, “Silver Threads and Golden Needles.” That’s a major compliment for Christy’s opening song, “The Lucky One.”

Dusty’s song was my pick hit for that year, and if you look back through the old Billboard charts you’ll see I was right about that one. I feel exactly the same about Christy McWilson.

Christy has such a beautiful voice; it might not matter what she’s singing. Her one-two punch here comes from writing her own material. Call it “roots-rock,” but this is the music I want coming from my car radio. Christy writes strong, swingy music, country weepers, and feisty lyrics for songs that conjure up images of sophisticated grit. She’s put all her time spent brooding to good use here. Her observations express the kind of intelligent fatalism one finds in farmers, Huichol Indians, or people exposed to the music industry.

Like many modern women, Christy sometime uses random divination to help her find her way through life. She based her decision to proceed with this project on the advice of a slip of paper from a fortune cookie she found tucked into the pages of a used book she was reading. What can I say, but omen formation, or belief in an ability to prophesy future untoward events, is regarded in some professional circles as being symptomatic. In show business, on the other hand, you will find many people many like that, and some superstitious people as well. After all, psychics on television would not exist if it weren’t for show business.

“The Lucky One” was randomly assigned a Hightone series number of 8119. Any method of numerology has the same result. Each number is added separately. 8+1+1+9 = 19, the sum of which is added, becoming 1+9 or 10, and then that sum is added 1+0 for the final result of 1. A quick method is to draw a line through and eliminate all numbers 9 or numbers adding up to 9 for a faster math. Any way you do it, once the record’s number is reduced to its essential core of being, it becomes the number 1. As in “The Lucky One,” if you see what I mean. I mean that’s a pretty cosmic coincidence just in itself. That should be enough to give you goose bumps.

Then, I’d just found an orange flicker feather on the path on my morning walk before stepping back inside the homestead to play The Lucky One. For Indians in my neck of the woods, that feather is a sign of good luck coming. I sense that you, the reader, are caught mildly wavering somewhere in between these many procedures for instant guidance. Have no doubt and believe what I say. As proof, it just so happens I keep my most recent fortune from a fortune cookie handy. A printed ribbon of good fortune, which says: “People find it difficult to resist you persuasive manner.” Misspelled word or not, you get the gist.

I predict “The Lucky One” will be the person who is the nimblest and most quickly acquires a copy of this CD. That way, my friend, you will have more time to enjoy it. The Lucky One, my friend, is my first surprise pick hit of this summer. Madame Flavah has spoken.