Troubadour Deb Varn has done a lot of living through vibrant light and into the depths of darkness, all while embarking on a spiritual quest. Journaling her transformational experiences that include a prolonged cancer battle into songs, she wrote ten tracks for her debut album for Moonwatcher Music, “Jasmine’s Colors,” which drops March 7th, 2025.

Joe Taylor produced, arranged, and played all the instruments in addition to cowriting three tunes with Varn, including the plucky blues rocker “Break It,” the first single that is available now.

Varn said the project was conceived as a spiritual album, but Taylor encouraged her to explore the dark side of her journeys and have the courage to share it with listeners. The tracks swirl Americana, blues, rock, country, folk, and pop while Varn’s storytelling lyrics are personal, brazenly honest, soul baring, and reveal an immensely grateful heart.

“Deb casts light into dark places, and, because of the path she has walked, she is of service to all those she encounters. She is also a helluva singer,” said Taylor who hosted Varn in his South Carolina recording studio.

Side A:
1. “Pool of Me”
2. “I Ride the Waves”
3. “Alright Already”
4. “Little Shadow”
5. “Jasmine’s Colors”

Putting the needle on an album that is comprised of intimate stories of faith, love, hope, and optimism incorporating Americana, country, blues, folk, rock, and pop music, Side A opens on the poignantly-hued “Pool of Me” (born from an excursion inspired by a self-awareness class she took) and the countrified foot tapper “I Ride the Waves” (a song about the human experience) and then we get brought forth the mid-tempo rocker “Alright Already,” the low slung balladry of “Little Shadow,” and the gloriously pop-rock of the titular “Jasmine’s Colors” (the title originating from a painting made by a five-year-old student when Varn was a teacher).

Side B:
6. “Little Soul”
7. “On My Own”
8. “Faith of a Mustard Seed”
9. “Break It”
10. “What Now?”

Flipping the vinyl LP over, recorded in Taylor’s Bennetts Point recording studio, along next is my own personal favorite track on this wondrously sculpted collection, the engaging, heartfelt ballad “Little Soul” (which emerged from Varn’s studies under Agape founder Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith) and which is itself followed seamlessly by a track where Varn’s thesis throughout the album comes to the fore, the ambient ballad “On My Own,” the gently melodious “Faith of a Mustard Seed” (where Varn delves deep into her battles with multiple myeloma), the music rounding out on a song about loving unconditionally despite betrayal, the country-twanged beauty “Break It,” closing on the all-embracing “What Now?” (a wondrous life-affirming anthem on which Varn celebrates her second chance at life).

Varn doesn’t appear on the cover of her new album, but what does offers a revealing look at the artist behind the music. The album artwork is a painting that was given to Varn by a five-year-old student named Jasmine when Varn was a teacher.

The imaginative child didn’t follow directions and colored freely and liberally outside the lines. That backstory made the painting even more alluring to Varn who saw it as symbolizing and depicting courage, freedom to live just as you are instead of following rigid rules and restrictions and proffering and pondering possibilities in place of prescriptions.

www.debvarn.com