There’s nothing like taking on the big issues, and that’s exactly what India.Arie does on her powerful third album 'Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship.' The title alone is an unmistakable signal that in the more than three years since her last Grammy winning album, 'Voyage to India' appeared, India.Arie has grown even more ambitious. That should hardly be a surprise. After all, her 2001 debut album, 'Acoustic Soul,' which earned her seven Grammy nominations and sold more than two million copies, announced that an artist who is unafraid to speak her mind had entered the music scene.

India.Arie continues to make good on that promise. 'Testimony…' explores relationships with the honesty, depth and vulnerability that she has made her hallmark. Floating on hypnotic rhythms and delicate melodies, the album travels a journey from heartbreak to acceptance to transcendence, and communicates all the personal wisdom gathered along the way. The title of the album’s centerpiece sums it up: This is "India’Song,” the latest chapter of what she intends to be her "great, big body of work.”

These songs, then, are smoky, soulful bulletins from the front, new sources of inspiration for India.Arie's millions of fans. The first half of 'Testimony…' finds India.Arie mapping an internal landscape of loss. "It’s crazy how much I miss/A simple good morning kiss,” she sings quietly on "Good Mourning,” and the unaffected directness of that lyric eloquently conveys the hurt in her heart. A bold, beautiful cover of Don Henley’s "The Heart of the Matter” establishes what might ultimately be 'Testimony’s…' most profound theme: forgiveness. “If you keep carrying that anger/It’ll eat you up inside,” she sings. It’s a gripping performance, and she means it. “That’s exactly how I felt,” India says of her vocal on the song. “Your voice is wherever you are, and the voice you hear on that track is telling a story along with the lyrics. I was right there.”

Asked what she would like listeners to take away from 'Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship' (she is already gathering songs for Vol. 2), India sighs, thinks for a moment, and then says, “I always pray that God will allow my music to touch whoever it’s for in the way that they need. I always pray for that.

TOUR DATES
July 1 West Palm Beach, FL Meyer Amphitheater
July 5 Chicago, IL Taste Of Chicago Festival (FREE)
July 6 Buffalo, NY Lafayette Square Festival Downtown Buffalo Festival (FREE)
July 7 Toronto, Canada Danforth Music Hall
July 13 Louisville, KY Kentucky Center For the Arts
July 14 Detroit, MI Chene River Amphitheater
July 15 St. Louis, MO Live on the Levee Festival, Riverfront Under The Arch (FREE)
July 19 Atlantic City, NJ House Of Blues
July 21 Washington, DC Carter Barron Amphitheatre
July 23 New Brunswick, NJ State Theatre
July 29 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park
July 30 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
August 5 Cincinnatti, OH Aronoff Center for Performing Arts
August 6 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
August 7 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
August 10 Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
August 11 Orlando, FL Orange County Convention Center
August 12 Birmingham, AL BJCC Concert Hall
September 19 Redding, CA Cascade Theater
September 17 Laytonville, CA Black Oak Ranch