In the trajectory of watching great musicians develop, there is no set timetable. Some appear full-blownright from the start, and others can take a whole career to get to that elevated place. Albert Cummingsarrived strong right at the beginningand has kept growing over a course of endless tours and nineprevious albums, right up to today with the release of the album TEN. It’s the kind of recording that showsexactly why all the accolades and excitement have been deserved. Now, it’s an irrevocable truth that themusician has made his full-on breakthrough. And it comes at exactly the perfect time, when the world islooking into what might be in store past the challenging experience of the pandemic for the last two years.Music, being one of the world’s tried and true joys of life, has always had a way of bringing healing andinspiration to listeners, and at no time in recent decades has it been needed more than now. When Albert Cummings started making plans for the sessions that would become TEN,his first sign thatthis would be a turning point for him was when he connected with producer Chuck Ainlay. With Ainlay’scredits working with Mark Knopfler, both solo and with Dire Straits, and George Strait, Miranda Lambert,Emmylou Harris and many others, it was immediately obvious that this new album would be one for theages. Cummings knew a new vista for his music was right in front of him. “When you walk into a roomwith a producer like this, it feels like there is a whole new world of possibilitiesready to open up,” he says,“and I felt like things were really turning in an exciting new direction.”