#19

We seem to love most where we came from - No matter the place, no matter the heat, no matter if it be flat, windy, dirty, old, new, over-populated, long wintered, treeless, and so forth. I grew up in a small town, actually seven miles from a small town; I grew up in an alfalfa field. During the warm summer nights I was privileged to the accompanying sound of sprinkler pipes outside my basement window. In fact, I could have just risen from a perfect nap, I’m feeling splendid, fully rested, revived, sleep being the furthest thing from my mind but if I was to lay down with the aid of sprinkler pipes watering a hay field I would be out like a light. Nothing sounds quite as relaxing to me as sprinkler pipe.

Growing up in my family being outside was just how it was. Gardening, yard work, raspberry patch, hay field, corn patch, fruit trees, bike well equipped to do all the maneuvers they did in my favorite movie as a young boy, “Rad”. A basketball court, BB gun with an affluence of birds, river within a mile or so, mountains in all directions – yes, there was plenty to do outside. Even during the cold winters I remember spending at least a few quality hours per day outside. I shot my best friend in the shoulder with my bb gun; actually, I shot both my best friends with my bb gun. With those same best friends we knocked out every window of an old abandoned gray house and then spent the next two months working on a dairy farm in order to pay off our regretful debt. I often moved sprinkler pipe in shorts - I wasn’t a real farmer, I never really knew the difference between a heifer and a regular ole’ cow. We rode calfs and imagined they were bucking wildly and we were cowboys - all they really did was run around in a circle and we'd eventually fall off. What the hell though, we felt tough. I can safely say I rode my bike hundreds of miles each year and never went any further than 3 miles from my home. I walked along the side of the road with a gun draped over my confidant shoulder and a sack lunch in my other hand and it didn’t look strange because it wasn’t strange. And it’s all of these things and so much more that I would sing about if I was a musician. I would find a way to implement sprinkler pipe into my American roots music, certainly bb gun would be a lyric – I love real music, real lyrics that are home grown. The next album on the list is full of this.

#19 Romantica - America (2007)

When I listen to America, which is often, I think of my childhood, I think of growing up in that alfalfa field, I'm not really certain why - this album is American roots sounding. There is no question the genre, Romantica is an alt-country band and a very favorable one at that. The album opens with "Queen of Hearts" a catchy more upbeat track with a sing-along chorus:

She’ll take you down to the river and throw you in, leave you when the sun goes down Tell you that you could’ve been a real fine fellow if your daddy would’ve had the time Leave you in the morning when the fog is forming on the Mississippi River bed

Well, you soon discover when you tell her that you love her that the girl you used to love is dead

She’ll take you down to the river and do it all over again

Most of this album is accompanied with pedal steel and I can't imagine the album without it. The lead singer and also songwriter of the group, Ben Kyle grew up in Belfast Ireland and moved to Minnesota when he was thirteen. Seeing Romantica live proved their excellence, I can assure you I have never had a more breathe taking musical experience as I did when I heard how perfect they sounded live. America has twelve tracks, it serves as a road map for a road trip, it's a beautiful album, soft at times, more upbeat at times but solid throughout. One of my favorite tracks off this album is "How To Live In A Modern World"

How to live in a modern world

Roll the dice, find a girl

Throw away the TV, and have some kids

Move into the big city

Next door to a colored family

Don’t do what your daddy did

I love this album, my two young boys love this album. Wil, my oldest, asks me, "Dad, play the snake song" which is a lyric in the third track, "The National Side" - I'm most excited about this band than any other at this time. Only two albums in, young guys, I have a feeling their going to be putting out magical music for years to come. The other hunch I have; I bet you Ben shot at least one of his friends with a bb gun growing up...maybe.

Check out Romantica and stream their music by clicking the links

http://www.myspace.com/romantica

http://www.romanticamusic.com/