Are you ready to folk rock!? - Brown Bird part 2

So last night I had the pleasure of seeing/meeting one of my new favorite bands live here in Spokane (Which in itself is quite amazing, as it is Spokane, after all.) On Saturday (5/26) I saw on Facebook that Brown Bird was playing at a bar in downtown Spokane on Sunday night. I HAD to go, but sadly, I was scheduled to work that night. So I went into work (on my day off) and luckily (after asking three people) got one of my co-workers to switch shifts with me so I could have the night off to go to the show. I was so very excited. If you read my previous post about Brown Bird, or are an immediate family member, you know I love them.

I got to the bar, Carr's Corner, at around 7pm, and went to the bar to get a drink. While standing there, I realized that MorganEve Swain and David Lamb of Brown Bird were sitting right next to me. And of course, being me, I was terrified to talk to them. Thankfully that feeling didn't last long. I went up to them, told them that I love them and their record, Salt for Salt, and that I was thrilled that they were playing in Spokane (And yes, I mentioned that I wrote about them on the blog, don't know if they've read it or not, as of last night, no. Update: as of 5/30, they had indeed read it) 

I had gotten to the bar early, and got to see them do their sound check. During this I learned one thing: bring your own sound guy, or at least make sure the venue's guy knows what they are doing. I'm sure the sound guy was perfectly capable, but MorganEve and Dave seemed to be a little irked with him (I guess the sound from their monitors wasn't right, I don't know.) The set up of the monitors and the speakers was off kilter that night or something, or the wiring was off, or the guy really didn't know what was going on, who knows really.  I got to talk to MorganEve a little more after sound check, and asked her if they had heard of Bison, which they hadn't, so I highly recommended they check them out, (and so should you.) and again when I was buying merch, how I had wanted to see them in Seattle too, but just couldn't swing it, as I was there the week before and would be there not long after, to see Counting Crows (yes, I named dropped Counting Crows), and with gas prices etc... you know...

After they finally got their sound issues kinda figured out, Brown Bird stepped out of the bar to get dinner(?), and the two opening acts played, Wolves in the Woods (they play bluegrass!) and John Blaksley (who kinda, a little bit, reminded me of the likes of Jack Johnson, kinda) There weren't too many people at the bar to see Brown Bird, which is sad, coz they are awesome, maybe only a couple dozen, if even that. Another girl that was there at the bar, who had also talked to MorganEve and Dave, told me that they were happy that I had come, that I was the only fan of theirs that showed up to see them, not just for a show, or for the supporting acts, but for them. For that I was absolutely thrilled. 

Brown Bird took the stage around 11pm. And they owned it. They are spectacular live. It's amazing what two people can do with such simple instruments. They played several songs from Salt for Salt: Fingers to the Bone, Blood Of Angels, Come My Way, Bildgewater, Nothing Left, and Cast No Shadow, and also a few songs I had never heard, nor know the name of, but awesome none the less. I was elated that they played Blood of Angels and Nothing Left as they are my favorite songs from the record.

After their set, I asked if I could get a picture with them, and they were more than happy to oblige. I also bought their album on vinyl that night (and of course a t-shirt, I love me some band t-shirts), and had them sign it for me (the record, not the shirt), also uber cool. I would have loved to have stuck around and talked with them more, but alas, I had to get up early for work the next morning. They were super nice, and played and sang exceptionally well. I couldn't have been more pleased with the show. I am so glad that I was able to get the night off from work. I really hope they come back my way again, I would love to see them again. Maybe next time my sister will be able to join me (she was very jealous of everything that happened that night)

I've said it before, this folk duo is FANTASTIC. Everyone should get Salt for Salt, and their earlier records too (which I will get when I get the fund-age) Please help these great people make it big. Buy their records, go to their shows. They are too awesome to not be world famous, or at least USA famous. They really are THAT good.

When music breaks, I blog it - Bison

To listen & download, go here! (While it's still free! if not, pay for it, its THAT good): http://noisetrade.com/bison

I am very excited to share this band. I got an email on Thursday, May 24, from NoiseTrade regarding their Special Feature Album that week, and since it was free, I was like, "sure, why not, I'll give it a go." And I am so glad I did!

Imagine Mumford & Sons and Brown Bird had a love child and sent it to boarding school in 16th Century England and/or Ireland. It would come back and make this gem of a record (well, really it'd be seven love-children) Bison's debut album, Quill (released 9/28/2011) is classical folk music at it's best. I am totally digging this re-emergence of folk music, and not like Bob Dylan or other 1960s folk music, but Appalachian mountain top chamber folk music. I LOVE it.

The seven member band from Chesapeake, Virginia, Benjamin Hardesty, Dan Hardesty, Annah Hardesty, Andrew Benfante, Amos Housworth, Teresa Totheroh, Jay Benfante, grew from living room and back yard bon fire sessions, of what I can only assume included family and friends just playing music together. The songwriting is on the shoulders of Benjamin Hardesty, and he's pretty darn good. The vocal arrangements are perfection, and the strings and guitars, mandolin, banjos (I LOVE banjos!), appropriately timed hand clapping, and what ever other instruments they use flow so nicely into each and every song.

Quill opens with Switzerland, with it's strings, xylophone, and guitars, is the prefect opening track, it grabs your attention; makes you stick around for the rest of the record. Every track that follows is just as good as the previous one. My favorite tracks on the record are Switzerland, Tired Hands, In Your Room, and Setting Our Tables, but really, every song on this record is fantastic. It will not disappoint!

Though I wish I could have had more time with this record to let it marinate in my mind, so I could have written a more wordy review, but I am just too excited to get it out there, to share it with y'all. Even if you're like, "oh, I really don't care for folk music" GO GET THIS RECORD. Take a chance, I did.

I would be lying if I didn't tell you the truth - Counting Crows

Sometimes you discover a band who completely changes your life. I'd thought I had found that when I discovered the Beatles, but then I found Counting Crows. This is a band that I could go on and on about all day, a band that I could write a 100 page graduate thesis paper on (ok, maybe not, but it sounds cool.)  There is just something about this group of seven guys: Adam Duritz, Dave Bryson, Charlie Gillingham, Dan Vickrey, David Immerglück, Jim Bogios and Millard Powers, that to me, is magical. I'll try not to make this post too long, but I have a lot to cram in. I do warn you though, that this will be one of the most honest posts I'll write, well, maybe until I get to writing about the Beatles (not that I'm not honest in the other ones, maybe honest isn't the right word. Lets just say that I normally don't tell people much about what really goes on in my head, but here I kinda have to.)

I think I've always been a Counting Crows fan, I mean what person in the early '90s didn't love Mr. Jones? But my real fan-dom started on 3/27/08 when I downloaded my first full, and arguably my favorite, Counting Crows record: Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings. Before that, I had only a few Crows songs in my collection, the basics: Mr. Jones, Round Here, Rain King. It wasn't until 8/29/2011 that I acquired my second full length Crows album, August & Everything After: Live at Town Hall. In those three years I was a fan, but nothing special. They hadn't yet secured a spot in my top 5 bands (now head to head with the Beatles for #1), or had a record on my "Desert Island Records" list. But that has all changed.

It has only been in the last 6 months that I have really, and I mean really gotten into this band. A month or so ago, a friend asked me "why now? What changed?" In early January, something flipped a switch, something in me was triggered and I became a full blown Counting Crows fan. I credit this to a dream I had in early January. In this dream Adam Duritz and I were in a pet store, shopping for rabbit food. Nothing special about the dream, it wasn't unusually weird, but it caused me to scour the interwebs for videos of live Counting Crows songs. It was then that I found this video (yes, that is Adam Duritz in a bunny costume. Bunny food, bunny costume... my brain weirds me out sometimes) --->



So this video is what got the ball rolling. But not what really cemented them as my current favorite band. This came a week or so later. By February, I had purchased all of the Crows' studio albums (August & Everything After, Recovering the Satellites, This Desert Life, Hard Candy and Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation) when it came out in April) and also the live albums New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall and Across a Wire: Live in New York City and downloaded a bunch of bootlegs. The second week of January was particularly difficult for me this year. I was having a bit of a spat with my little brother, something which I was really bummed about, and it was also the one year (though I hate using this word,) anniversary of my Grandma Brinkerhoff, to whom I was very close, passing away. So needless to say, I wasn't feeling my best that week. So when Recovering the Satellites arrived near the end of that week, I put it in the cd player and pushed play. The intro verse of Catapult was exactly what I needed to hear:
       All of a sudden she disappears / just yesterday she was here / somebody tell me if I am sleeping / someone should be with me here / cause I don't want to be alone
(Incidentally, Recovering the Satellites is my second favorite Crows album, with the others all tied at third)

I often refer to my rock stars as my "friends" because they are always there when I need them, and always know exactly what to say. This is completely spot on with Counting Crows. Adam Duritz has a gift; he writes the most amazing songs, songs that are so relatable on such a personal level to so many people, including me. As Roberta Flack once sang: "Strumming my pain with his fingers / Singing my life with his words / Killing me softly with his song / Telling my whole life with his words / Killing me softly with his song" Adam Duritz gives this true meaning, he does all this and more. He gives you songs that grab you and suck you in within the first line, and leaves you begging for more. For instance, the leading line from Hard Candy (the song and album): "On certain sundays in November / When the weather bothers me / I empty drawers of other summers / where my shadows used to be" That one line pulled me into the album, that one line helped cement this band into "good gourd, I LOVE this band" status, the one line (along with dozens of others) that made me fall in love with this band. (The other song that really did this is August & Everything After, which in my opinion is one of Adam Duritz's most lyrically beautiful songs ever.)

Musically the band is amazing too. They have two phenomenal lead guitarists: Dan Vickrey and David Immerglück. Immer not only rocks on the guitar, but also kills it, or should I say, is immerific, on the mandolin and steel pedal guitar. Messrs. Immerglück and Vickrey are now in my top 6 favorite guitarists of all time (Harrison, Clapton, The Edge, Buckingham, Immerglück, Vickrey.) Charlie's piano/organ skills are masterful, and you can't help but get excited when Charlie pulls out his accordion (I mean come on, what other mainstream band routinely uses both a mandolin and accordion?) Dave's rhythm guitar is great, and he's just so damn adorable. Jim gets so into the drums, you can see it in his face as he plays; he's brilliant. And Millard, well Millard is Millard. He plays bass superbly, kills it on acoustic guitar on the track Hospital from Underwater Sunshine and plays the piano too!

I have seen Counting Crows live (so far) three times: July 16, 2009, September 22, 2011 and April 13, 2012, each time more amazing than the last (especially the most recent show, as we were only like three feet away from the stage.) For those of you who have been lucky enough to see them live, you know how amazing their shows are. I liken their shows to those traveling Jesus shows, you know, the ones with the preachers who spit out scripture and say things like "you are healed" and speak in tongues and stuff? Where sometimes the preacher goes into some sort of trance? That's a Counting Crows show, only WAY more awesome, and without snakes. If you look up at Adam Duritz during a show, you'll wonder where he is - he is IN the song; he becomes part of it, entranced in the music, the lyrics, the emotion, the moment. Their's is one of those shows where you get so wrapped up in the music that you forget all about the thousand other fans standing behind you. To me, all that exists in that moment is Adam, Immer, Dan, Charlie, Dave, Jim and Millard, and maybe my concert buddy, only when I break my trance with the band.

Counting Crows shows are not shows that you simply walk out of - you float on the reverbs of Dan, Dave and Immer's guitars and Millard's bass, are carried on the beats of Jim's drumming, and the budduh bum bum of Charlie's accordion lifts you back up as you're falling. The high from a Counting Crows show keeps you going for weeks afterwards, well at least they do for me anyway. I've said before about seeing Tom Petty live, that even if he stood on stage for two hours singing Old McDonald I'd still go see him, same with Counting Crows. I don't care if they don't play any of "the hits", their catalog is chocked full of awesomeness that I wouldn't mind at all if they didn't do Mr. Jones or Rain King. Honestly, they could all just stand up there and pass around a phone book, each reading a selection of names, and I'd still be in awe with the band (but when you're done with the phone book, please play Cowboys for me. Seriously, I love that song. The guitars are incendiary.) Just remember, it's not over until Adam Duritz leads the California Dreamin' sing-a-long.

I love everything about this band: Adam Duritz's amazing lyrics, the music, the melodies, the harmonies, Adam Duritz's hair, Dan's hat. I love that they all seem like they are genuinely having fun and enjoying what they do with this band. I will freely admit that Adam Duritz is my celebrity crush. I don't think I have really ever been more in love with a band (not even the Beatles.) I would love to meet these guys, just hang out with them and talk about music, to interview them for the blog (but get ready for the most random questions ever!)

I could go on and on about how amazing these guys are, but I think I'll stop here, well until Part 2, when I talk about their new record Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation), which you should all go buy, if you haven't already, coz it's really, really, really good.

Winter here had brought me down, then I found Runaway Dorothy

Here be audio: http://www.sonicbids.com/2/EPK/?epk_id=74081#audio

One of these days I'll talk about a band that wasn't part of South By South West's Outlaw Roadshow, but they are just all so good! One of the bands which first grabbed my attention was Runaway Dorothy. I think their's was the first album from any of the Roadshow artists that I downloaded in it's entirety, and I couldn't be more in love with it. They call themselves "alternative-country" but I'm really not sure exactly what that means. They do sound country, not sure where the "alternative" comes in. I grew up with country music, and still listen to lots of the stuff that I did growing up, but I separate country music as pre- or post-Dixie Chicks (who, along with Shania Twain, in my opinion, ruined country music) so I really haven't listened to new Country music since like 1998, and really, I'm not saying that I'm going to go back to listening to it, but If these guys are the future of country music, then I may.



Originally from North Carolina, but now haunting the subways, streets and venues of Brooklyn (and greater NYC), Dave Parnell (vocals, guitar, harmonica). Brett Parnell (electric guitar, banjo), Evan Mitchel (drums) and Sammy Gallo (bass) make up Runaway Dorothy. Hard Way Home was the song I got from the Outlaw Roadshow download; a great, upbeat, story of a song. I love the electric guitar in this song, and the banjo (but then again, I love anything with a banjo, they are just so fun.) After I listened to Hard Way Home a handful of times, I HAD to get more. So I downloaded The Arc.

When I first listened to The Arc, the first thing I thought was "hmm.. I dig this... kinda reminds me of Jakob Dylan (whom I LOVE)" and I couldn't get enough of it. I love everything about this record: the songwriting, the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the bass lines, the backing vocals, the harmonica (I love a good harmonica, and I have the utmost respect and admiration for anyone who can play the guitar and the harmonica at the same time, nice job Dave!) Abilene, which is my favorite song on the record, also holds great lyrics and guitars, and I really like the drum line on that track. The Arc also has some great tracks for unwinding, or for when you've got a melancholy mood about you: Takes a Lot of Love, Too Young, Nights Like These, Volatile, Say and Matter of Time. For something in between Hard Way Home and Too Young, Caulfield and Katherine Song are perfect. Every song on The Arc is perfect for what ever mood you may be in. The whole record has become a staple in my life. Hard Way Home often helps kick off road trips, and along with Abilene is on my playlist of songs I love to sing and several of the songs are on the playlist that I have to fall asleep to/play while I'm sleeping.

Runaway Dorothy is another band which I follow on twitter, well really it's Dave, and with whom I have exchanged a tweet or two... or a dozen... or so... They are another band which it would be uber cool to be friends with, to be a part of the awesome music, and who also need to work in some sort of a west coast tour (I would love to see these guys live!) Being twitter friends with them has its perks as well, their manager (Nicholas Mishko) sent me a packet of "swag" from the band, including an autographed poster, a guitar pick, a couple buttons, stickers and SXSW schedule cards (of course I framed the poster, it's now hanging in my kitchen.)

Dave and the boys are currently putting the finishing touches on a new record, which I am quite excited to get my hands on. (Look for a smashing review here when it comes out!)

I really do love this band. And since I do, you should too. Please help support these guys and buy their record (The Arc and the new one when it's released.) At least listen to it, then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Are you a Filligirl? I am -- Filligar

Go here to listen & download: http://www.noisetrade.com/filligar

Ok, here is yet another band from the fabled South by South West's Outlaw Roadshow: Filligar. I really like this band. Not only because I have become quasi Twitter friends with them (more on that later,) but because they are really good. They kind of remind me a teeny bit of early Pink Floyd, in their music, melodies and rhythms, and like mid 1960s British rock, i.e. the Stones or the Kinks, or maybe even Paul Revere & The Raiders (though they are American;) driving guitars, great vocal dynamics, fantastic bass lines and keyboards, and the drumming is superb as well.

Originally from Chicago the band is comprised of brothers Johnny (guitars/vocals), Pete (drums) and Teddy (bass) Mathias and friend Casey Gibson (vocals/keyboards). Their most recent album is titled The Nerve, and was released July 2010. It is this record that bears the first song of theirs I heard: Robbery (Shocking Love) which was available on the Outlaw Roadshow website for download. Honestly in the first couple weeks after I downloaded it, I didn’t listen to it much, as there were other bands that were occupying my time. But one day at work, Robbery got stuck in my head, but of course just one line, so when I was able (I think on my lunch break) I listened to it, a couple times even, and I was like “hmm… I like this… find more of it” and that’s just what I did.

I posted on twitter that afternoon that I had the song stuck in my head, and the band sent me a link to download The Nerve for free (which is awesome, coz I love free music.) After listening to it many, many times, I love this record. It has become one that is in constant rotation on the Ipod (and with me, that’s not an easy feat to accomplish.  Like I said in this post, I like the music I like, and it’s not easy for a new band to squeeze their way into the rotation. Some of my friends are slightly shocked that I’m getting into new bands in the first place, so when one gets my seal of approval, its a good thing. If it weren’t for the Outlaw Roadshow, well, really its co-organizer, Adam Duritz (of Counting Crows) I would be avoiding new music like I usually do. But that’s a whole other post all together)

When I first heard about Twitter, I laughed it off, and thought, "I'll never get sucked into that" but then I did (though in the early days of my twitter-ing it was used for school, for reals! I was taking a geology class where we used it to keep the class updated on current natural hazards/disasters). Twitter has become a great place for me to to interact with some of these awesome new bands I've come across. Filligar is one of those bands. Even as I am typing this (from the sweltering hot laundromat) I posted a "tweet" about how I was listening to/blogging about Filligar, and they replied back. Over the last couple weeks we have exchanged many "tweets" and through a (possibly rigged) contest to guess which band member won the last inter-band home run derby, I "won" a post card from the boys on the road (they were in Pennsylvania.) So, this is why I call them quasi twitter friends. Maybe someday we'll be real-life friends too.

Those lucky enough to live on the east coast have the opportunity to see these guys on tour with Counting Crows on the traveling Outlaw Roadshow's first leg (go here for the list of dates/venues.) Sadly, I do not live on the east coast, I live on the west coast, so I will not be able to see them. If anyone reading this is in range of any of the venues on the tour, do yourself a favor and GO. Not only do you get Counting Crows (who are AMAZING live) and Filligar, but also Foreign Fields (another band I love, I'll get to them later) and Good Old War (I'm not familiar with them, but I'm sure they are great too) Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll swing a west coast tour after they are done with the Roadshow. But until then, I'll just keep listening to The Nerve (you can also listen to their earlier records on Spotify, which I am also doing as I write)

My favorite/most played tacks on The Nerve: Robbery (Shocking Love), Slow Night at the Red Sea, Resurrection Song and Mumbling Girl.

Go listen to this record, to this band. They will rock your socks off. I promise. (Unless you aren't wearing socks... put some on, so they can rock them off)

Happy Birthday, Bono - U2

In honor of one of my favorite Irishman's birthday today, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite bands tonight. Sometimes I think that it's a little cliché to say that U2 is your favorite band. I have been given flack before for saying that The Edge is one of my favorite guitarists, but it's true. He's awesome. But I don't really care. I like the music I like, and that's that.

I can't remember when I first became a U2 fan. It goes back to at least late 2000 when All That You Can't Leave Behind came out. Like many bands before, and after, I bought just one album and it was all downhill from there. With each following album purchase, I got more and more into the music. Rattle & Hum, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb and their two greatest hits albums are a constant staple on the ipod to this day (their newest release No Line on the Horizon doesn't get as much airtime as the others, but still some. Why? Not sure, really)

The Joshua Tree is by far my favorite of them all. It's always in my car's CD player (well, except for right now, this album has taken it's place, until I remember to switch it out)
It's there for two reasons, 1: it's an awesome album (it's one of my Desert Island records) and 2: Every time I drive over Manastash Ridge from Ellensburg to Yakima I listen to Where the Streets Have No Name. Every time. For the last 10 years. Both ways (but it's better going west to east) If you press play right as you pass the lookout point on I-82 East, just up the hill from Ellensburg, the song will peak right as you're passing into the vast nothingness that is Manastash Ridge. The words of the song fit the drive perfectly, seriously, if you do this the drive will never be the same:
      I want to feel sunlight on my face / I see the dust cloud disappear without a trace / I want to take shelter     from the poison rain where the streets have no name / Where the streets have no name, where the streets have no name / We're still building then burning down love, burning down love / And when I go there,
I go there with you it's all I can do / The city's aflood / And our love turns to rust / We're beaten and blown by the wind, trampled in dust / I'll show you a place, high on a desert plain / Where the streets have no name.

Sometimes it's hard to express what exactly it is about a band that makes you love them; that pulls you in. With me one thing that always gets me is the songwriting, the lyrics. There are several U2 songs that I could listen to over and over and every time re-fall in love with the words. Some of my most played songs are Stay (Far Away, So Close!), Running to Stand Still, Bad, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Window in the Skies, and Love Rescue Me. There are songs that have gotten me though some tough times in my life. Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, a song written for Bono's father after he passed away, helped me out when my Grandpa died, and then again when my Grandma died:

    Tough, you think you've got the stuff / You're telling me and anyone / You're hard enough / You don't have to put up a fight / You don't have to always be right / Let me take some of the punches / For you tonight / Listen to me now / I need to let you know / You don’t have to go it alone / And it's you when I look in the mirror / And it's you when I don't pick up the phone / Sometimes you can't make it on your own / We fight all the time / You and I / That’s alright, we’re the same soul / I don’t need, I don’t need to hear you say / That if we weren't so alike / You’d like me a whole lot more / Listen to me now / I need to let you know / You don't have to go it alone / And it's you when I look in the mirror / And it's you when I don't pick up the phone / Sometimes you can't make it on your own / I know that we don’t talk / I’m sick of it all / Can you hear me when I sing? / You're the reason I sing / You're the reason why the opera is in me / Where are we now? / Still gotta let you know / A house still does not make a home / Don’t leave me here alone


On April 12, 2001, Linda, Sarah (this crazy girl I knew in high school), and I saw U2 in concert for the first time, but most certainly not the last. I've often said that music is my religion, and concert halls are my church. This can't be more true about seeing U2 live. I compare seeing them live to seeing the Pope give a live sermon, or whatever it is he does. The music, the lights, the fans, Bono running around the stage in his little leather pants. For me anyway, it's quite amazing. U2 is one of the handful of bands what I have thrice seen live (Elton John, Billy Joel, Bryan Adams and Counting Crows are the others, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers hold the record at four.) Just over four years later we saw them again, on April 25, 2005, and most recently on June 4, 2011. Each time has been as spectacular as the last. I love them live. I love them on CD. I love that they're Irish.

Happy birthday, Paul David Hewson.

The fastest way to my heart is through my rib cage: Dave Godowsky

Listen while you read: http://www.davegodowsky.com/

The singer/songwriter of tonight's post comes again from The Outlaw Roadshow line-up from SXSW. New York City based Dave Godowsky's album All You Love is Need is mellow, great for unwinding, and really an all around good listen.

The songs are reminiscent of the 1970s singer/songwriter revolution, me I hear the likes of Jim Croce with a smidgen of Cat Stevens thrown in. His lyrics are real, and extremely relate-able. You listen to these songs, and you can feel, nay, share every emotion going in and out of the words. "Of all the things you said to me / the worst was things are not the way they used to be... Of all the things that you could do / you had to go and make me fall in love with you" I mean, really, who doesn't get pulled into a song (Tragedy) with lyrics like that.

Or my personal favorite:
"Well I thought I loved it there for a minute / but I hate the world and everyone in it / well the sunrise was dramatic / but I looked directly at it / now my point of view is becoming problematic / well perhaps I've had a few too many / but a penny saved is only a penny / take a look at the world it's an oyster with no pearl / no caviar, no frankincense and mur / Well the audience could not stop clapping / and the deaf man saw the blind man laughing / though they cheered and roared well the audience was bored / but the deaf man's faith was finally restored (I Hate the World & Everyone In it)

I also want to quote lines from the song Flashlight  here, because it's pretty rad too. It's the first track I heard off of All You Love is Need and I was hooked; had to get the whole album. But you can go listen to it yourself, and I'm sure you'll feel the same as I do about it. Ready? Go! (The link is up there! Go!) (Ok, I'll give you this one line, because I love it: And a full moon can be so bright / but also kinda nothing in it's own right)

 Godowsky's acoustic guitar brings out the songs in a mellow-tastic way. The string arrangements back the songs perfectly. This albums is a gem start to finish. Now that I have these songs in the soundtrack of my life, it's hard to imagine it without them. Kudos to you Mr. Dave Godowsky.

I'm not going to list my "favorite songs off the album" here, mainly because I love them all. Yes, that's right. All 8 songs. There isn't one on this album that I never skip. And that's saying a lot. (there is always at least one song on every album I own that I always skip)

Who doesn't love good ol' Americana folk? Brown Bird

Go here and listen while you read!: http://brownbird.bandcamp.com/album/salt-for-salt
                           

My first real post was suggested by my sister Linda. I discovered this group through the Outlaw Roadshow from this year's South By SouthWest music festival in Austin, TX. (http://www.theoutlawroadshow.com/) Sadly, I didn't get to go, but selections from all the bands were available for download on the website, and Brown Bird has become a favorite. 


Hailing from Rhode Island, this folk duo consists of David Lamb and  MorganEve Swain, both on vocals and multiple instruments: guitar, banjo, fiddle, cello and upright bass and percussion. Lamb has a deep, blues-esque voice, and Swain's reminds me of Zooey Deschanel (She & Him), deeper and soulful, which is good. Their most recent release Salt for Salt is a fantastic, fun-filled listen. I mean come on, who doesn't love a good folky fiddle?! (Though sometimes the fiddle is more old European sounding than traditional Americana)


This record is different from most everything out there, but in the greatest way possible. You can't help but sing (and dance) along to this record. It's just so much fun. I am drawn to songs with well written lyrics, and this album is full of fantastic ones. Some favorites on the album are Blood of Angels, Nothing Left, Cast No Shadow and Fingers to the Bone.


Seriously folks, just listen. It is a great album, a great band. 


     http://www.facebook.com/brownbirdmusic
     http://www.brownbird.net

In the beginning...

So, here goes. I was having dinner with a friend tonight and she suggested that I start a blog to talk about all the music I love. I am always recommending new and old artists and records to people, and it seems, according to these people, that I have fairly good taste in music. (This friend, who shall remain nameless, but knows who she is, first suggested that I become a radio DJ, then have my own podcast; we settled on a blog)

I've been a fan of music as far back as I can remember. From singing "Daydream Believer" on the playground in kindergarten, the Abba tape we had as kids, collecting Garth Brooks CDs in the early '90s, to filling my ears with all the Beatles, Monkees and other classic rock as I could in the late '90s till now, discovering new artists through other artists' suggestion, going to as many concerts featuring my favorite bands as often as I can. I love it all: the songwriting, the guitars, the bass lines, the backing vocals, the lead singers that close their eyes and put their hands in their pockets as they sing. From A-Ha to the Zombies my music collection holds stuff that I could go on and on about all day. Here's my chance.

So what this blog will be is me, reviewing, suggesting, raving about or just discussing some of my favorite bands, records, songs, artists, songwriters, guitarists, drummers, whatever. I have had the opportunity in the last few months to be introduced to several new and up-and-coming bands (who are fantastic) and have been very eager to share them with as many people as I can. And then there are the bands that I have loved for years, the ones who I always go back to, I love to share them as well.

I don't know how often I'll post new stuff, maybe weekly, maybe daily, who knows. When ever I feel like it. I'm already compiling a list of bands/albums, so get ready to read, listen and love these bands/records as much as I do. If you have any suggestions for posts, feel free to let me know.