Singer/songwriter Cindy Alexander has that rarest of talents: the ability to write from a personal place that touches universal emotions in all of us. On Deep Waters, her eighth studio album, Alexander explores love in all its forms- sacred, passionate, sexual, maternal, even remorseful and misguided-and always with an unrelenting truthfulness. In both her music and vocal delivery, there is a boldness that demands the listener lean in and surrender to her fearless take on life's messy complications and rich joys. When she started work on Deep Waters, Alexander was ready for a change. That meant taking a leap of faith. After working with producer and good friend Dave Darling (Boxing Gandhis, Meredith Brooks) for years, she partnered with acclaimed artist, writer and producer Colin Devlin, best known for his solo work and as half of leading Irish duo, The Devlins. Set up by Blue Élan Records founder/president Kirk Pasich, Alexander and Devlin went on the musical equivalent of a blind date. "The first thing we were trying to do was see if these two strangers could create anything without having any rules or parameters about what we were going to say or how we were going to do it," she says. "I usually write all my own lyrics. This time, there was someone else's experiences and life coming in and adding more meaning and context into every song." For Alexander, her time has come with Deep Waters. "I feel like you can't stop me now. I've got this," she says. "When you've experienced any kind of brush with your mortality, you want to thrive, not just survive. The fact that I get to live my dream and make music for a living, I don't take any of that for granted." Jump in, the water's fine.