"Cindy Bullens, Dream #29 (* * * ) Boston Red Sox devotees will want to check out this cult heroine's CD to hear pitcher Tim Wakefield sing Tom Petty-like harmony on 7 Days. But all admirers of Bullens' unforced grit will enjoy the rootsy reliables she cranks out with help from more experienced musicians such as Delbert McClinton and Elton John. From the bluesy This Ain't Love to the plaintive Mockingbird Hill, this is sports-bar-friendly music even a Yankees fan could love."

— USA Today

"As another rocker who has grown up and managed to incorporate adult concerns into her work without sacrificing the passion and energy of youth, Cindy Bullens deserves to be mentioned alongside such peers as Bruce Springsteen, John Hiatt, Bonnie Raitt and Steve Earle.  That she remains underrated, and in some quarters unknown, is not the fault of her talent or material, but rather an off-and-on career beset by poor label support, years spent raising a family, and the tragic loss of her daughter to cancer (chronicled on her heartrending 1999 album Somewhere Between Heaven And Earth, ironically her comeback effort.)

    Dream #29 has its share of heartbreak too, as on "Paper And Glass", with the narrator seeking the perfect frame for a photo of a lost loved one, and "Mockingbird Hill," in which the trappings of a comfortable home belie the pain suffered under its roof.

    Those songs are tempered by the life affirming rocker "Box Of Broken Hearts" and the pounding title track, which features a rollicking piano part played by Elton John (Bullens sang with him in the '70s).  Delbert McClinton appears as well, singing with Bullens on the bar-room ready "This Ain't Love".  And that voice you hear capably singing harmonies on "7 Days" belongs to Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.
Talk about a glory hog.  Wasn't this past year rewarding enough for him?

Maybe some of Wakefield's magic will rub off on Bullens.  She deserves a championship ring, or the music business equivalent."

— No Depression

"Over three decades of work, Cindy Bullens has perfected the tough-tender, country-rock hybrid sound; by now, she's such an American tomboy that on her latest album she even sings about -- and with -- a baseball hero.

On the rollicking "7 Days," the…singer-songwriter-guitarist recalls being left at home, too young, when Ted Williams came to town. She gets from "Well, he died today/I never saw him play" to "But I'm gonna see my baby in 7 days" through passion rather than logic, but that's okay; she achieves a sort of thematic unity by bringing in Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield to sing backup.

Clearly, Bullens enjoys hanging out with musical pals, too: Delbert McClinton shows up for the masochistic swamp-rocker "This Ain't Love" ("This ain't love/You've taken me hostage"), and Elton John, with whom Bullens got her music-biz break as a backing vocalist, gets to play honorary American via his barrelhouse piano on the glossily bluesy road trip "Dream #29 (One True Love)." These aren't novelty cameos or bolsters to buck up a lesser singer; their contributions -- yes, even Wakefield's just-evocative-enough monotone -- flourish organically in this accomplished collection.
Producer Ray Kennedy, a Steve Earle collaborator, is mindful of distinctive touches such as Bullens's Mellotron on the sensuous "Oriental Silk" and the itchy burst of electronica that opens "Dream #29." There's much here for fans of McClinton, Earle, Melissa Etheridge and Lucinda Williams to enjoy. If "Dream #29" doesn't pull Bullens from obscurity in this age of alt-country and strong female vocals, she'll just have to continue lending guts and grace to the world of the critic's darling."

— Washington Post

"Those unfamiliar with Bullens who get round to reviewing her latest album will probably focus on the guests who put in appearances. Delbert McCLinton joins her for the bluesy bar room This Ain't Love, Boston's Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield harmonises on the twangy country rocking 7 Days and, the real celebrity spotter news, Elton John pumps piano on the swaggering boogie blues talker title track, reuniting a 70s relationship that saw Bullens providing back ups on three tours, the Blue Moves album and Don't Go Breakin' My Heart.

It's understandable that writers will spotlight such things, but what they really should be noting is that Bullens remains an underrated force and talent who, were it not for a litany of record label disasters and personal tragedies (her daughter died of cancer) would surely be accorded the same sort of respect and accolades as, say, Chrissie Hynde to whom she often bears comparison.
Joined by a band that includes Garry Tallent on bass and George Marinelli on guitars, this is a perfect tough n tender companion piece to the previous Neverland, the muscle and sinew evident from the get go with the slow burning rock of Oriental Silk, a country hued Jellico Highway where Bruce and Lucinda share the driving and the swaggeringly upbeat ringing Pettyesque Box Of Broken Hearts.

With its drawled spoken intro and Steve Earle delivery, Love Letter From Las Vegas perfectly underlines the fact that Bullens can mine the motherlode from rock country territory but it's arguably the slower, more heartaching numbers that really show her at her best. The chiming falling apart worlds apart relationship of Too Close To The Sun pulses with a quiet sorrow and the strummed, gradually building circular melody of Mockingbird Hill details how sometimes the most perfect looking facades can hide a world of hurt in a house that's home to pain.

However, the album's real diamond and the one where those Hynde comparisons really come to the surface is Paper And Glass, a plangently melodic song of loss in a photograph which may refer back to her daughter, but should strike a chord with any heartbreak frozen inside a frame. With dreams like these, it's about time Bullens stopped being a snapshot in a favourite album and became part of music's bigger picture."

— NetRhythmsUK