After releasing a promising self-titled folk debut in 2000, Seattle-based singer/songwriter Shannon Stephens stepped away from music and spent eight years raising her family and nurturing a home garden business. But the urge to return to the scene, furthered by encouraging friends in the music community, compelled the artist to release this year’s stunning Pull It Together. In those eight years a new confidence has grown in her voice, which is as clear and pure as the songbirds warbling in her garden. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT asthmatickitty.com/shannon-stephens