SOMEHOW FORM A FAMILY

Tony Earley has a deep, rich voice, with just a touch of sweetness, like honey on grits. "I am sensitive to the power of metaphor to the point of superstition," writes Earley, and he works a dark magic, extracting myths from backwoods North Carolina. Life is slow, but raw. Earley's great-grandmother kicks her husband out of bed when her son is born and sleeps with the boy until after adolescence. "Daddy fell in love with Momma my senior year," he writes of his own parents, "and moved back in." Magazine articles are mixed with biography, but the voice from the Concorde is still classic Earley: slow, wise, and sad. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 01]