#14

#14 on The List is written by Lynda Hamblin, my Mother; the one responsible for my love of music, especially Dylan and Van Morrison.

by Lynda Hamblin - January 25, 2010

Aside from my family, I have two passions in my life – music and baseball. Not necessarily in that order…depending on how Detroit is doing it could be baseball first and music second. Regardless, music has sustained me throughout my life and been a constant companion since I slow danced around my older sister’s bedroom to Connie Francis, Paul Anka, and Bobby Vinton (she was a bit of a romantic).

As a teenager, my days were punctuated by the greatest artists of the 60’s. We called them records then and every penny I could squeeze out of my father went for the latest Dylan or Beatles or Credence release. I walked three and a half miles in the sweltering Arizona heat to the record store on the day Rubber Soul was released because I couldn’t wait for someone to get home and drive me there.

Musicians and rock bands carried a bit of a mystic in those days…before the Internet and tabloids lay their entire lives out for all to see. I believe that mystery was part of the web that drew us in. Who were these guys? But their words and music spoke to me in a way that often shook me to the core. Mr. Aldrich, my 10^th grade American History teacher, asked our class to write an essay entitled, “What I Would Be Willing to Die For.” He was somewhat dismayed when I wrote three pages about how and why I would be willing to die for the chance to see Dylan at the Fillmore in November. However, he did give me an A.

It sounds cliché to say that music can save your life but there are many who know this is true…and you know who you are. Perhaps this line from a journal I kept during my senior year in high school, a tumultuous and trying time in my life, sums up the indelible impression the music stamped me with; at once disturbing and enlightening, I wrote, “…how is it that I can remember every word from every song on the radio and I cannot remember even one time my father or mother told me they loved me.”

I clung to the words and music like a life raft. I could not have survived without them. Even now the life preservers are being cast about for those of us who flounder, fall, get up and fall again. David Gray is such an artist, a savior of sorts, saving us all a generation at a time.

Mike, a huge David Gray fan, was hesitant about including him on the blog – ”…he might be too successful to be on the list.” Perhaps. After the release in 2000 of White Ladder and the breakout hit single, “Babylon,” he did become a bit of household name. Regardless, the criteria for the 25 artists on this blog fit him perfectly. And although he released a Greatest Hits album in 2007, I persisted that he be part of the experience. While David Gray was an easy choice for me, narrowing down to only one album proved difficult. In the end, Life in Slow Motion won out.

#14 David Gray - Life In Slow Motion (2005)

Whether it is his genius at the piano or on the guitar, or the poetry of his words, this album transcends. The poignancy of the image of dissolving snowflakes in the title song, “Slow Motion,” speaks of hope and loss at the same time. There’s that lifeline – grab hold. Or how about the poetic imagery in “Now and Always?” I defy anyone not to see the swans on the water.

The swans are ghosts

On the jet black water

The swans like ghosts

On the jet black water

Hey little baby

I’ll hold you close

We’ll glide like ghosts

On the starry water.

Every song is a gift, bundled up and waiting for you. And like all good poets, he leaves the interpretation of his words to each of us. The story in each song is not clearly defined. It is a little like reading a great book with a surprise ending. I hope you will all revisit Life in Slow Motion and take the time to really listen. Surely, David would not mind if I quote the Irishman, James Joyce, when he said, “I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality.” However, it isn’t just the mystery of the music David Gray will be immortalized for – he is just quite frankly, one of the best.

Six Songs I'm Sure You'll Love

I discover the majority of my music by searching the internet, reading some publications, NPR, some radio (not much) and friends and family. Sharing is important. A rule so elementary yet so significant to my awareness of many musicians and films. Anyway, I thought I'd share 6 songs that I've discovered over the past few months. Make sure you give them a listen, I'm certain you'll love them.

1. Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons

Album: Death Won't Send A Letter

Song: Born Again

My thoughts: This video is great, it's always nice to be able to see the artist while they sing, a sort of connection is made that I really enjoy. The album is wonderful, this song is one of my favorites of 2009.

Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros

Album: Up From Below

Song: Home

My Thoughts: Album is great - really one of the most fresh and unique talent I've heard in a while. The energy is so apparent in the music and that's why I've posted the live version from the Letterman show. Absolutely worth watching! Seriously, don't miss this!

3. Blind Pilot

Album: 3 Rounds And A Sound

Song: The Story I Heard

4. Robert Francis

Album: Before Nightfall

Song: Junebug

My Thoughts: One of the best albums of 2009 hands down. Robert is young, I think he's twenty or twenty-one and this is his second album. He plays multiple instruments and has a world of talent.

5. Drew Holcolm and The Neighbors

Album: Passenger Seat

Song: Fire and Dynamite

My Thoughts: Love em', they don't have a bad album nor a bad song. The female vocals you hear are his wife and together they sound perfect. She sings on a few tracks and her voice will hook you for sure.

6. Joey Ryan

Album: Kenter Canyon

Song: Queen Jane

My Thoughts: Something about his voice in this song just hits me like a ton of bricks. He's right on the verge if you ask me and I love that.

Hope you liked those songs as much as I do. Nothing better than finding a new tune that just excites ya to no end - makes you look forward to your commute, you can't wait to jog, anything to put on the ipod.

#15

How many great songs are about love? How many about the heartache that comes from a failed relationship or the joys of a successful one? In a way, doesn’t it seem like it’s pretty much all of them. I think of Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry or Why Don’t You Love Me, easily a couple of my favorite Hank songs. I think of Van Morrison’s Sweet Thing or Cash and the beautiful I Still Miss Someone. I love Dylan, in my last entry I mentioned a song of his, Boots Of Spanish Leather, from The Times They Are A-Changin’ album. The song is nine verses, and for the first six verses the dialog alternating between man and woman. The woman has sailed away and in each of her verses (3 of them) she asks if there is anything the man would like her to send him when she arrives to the place she is sailing. He declines any possible gifts and continues with his determined plea, “Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled” and this continues on through until the final three verses,

I got a letter on a lonesome day,
It was from her ship a-sailin',
Saying I don't know when I'll be comin' back again,
It depends on how I'm a-feelin'.

Well, if you, my love, must think that-a-way,
I'm sure your mind is roamin'.
I'm sure your heart is not with me,
But with the country to where you're goin'.

So take heed, take heed of the western wind,
Take heed of the stormy weather.
And yes, there's something you can send back to me,
Spanish boots of Spanish leather.

What a solid dude, don’t you think? He accepts that it’s over, wishes her safe travel and is not about to let his pride stand in the way, “Hell, you keep asking and so I guess sure, why not, send me back a pair of those Spanish leather boots.”

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned but I married my high school girlfriend, we started dating when I was fifteen and now we’ve been married for little more than eight years. We have two sons and it feels like I’ve known and loved her forever, I really could not imagine life without her. The success of our relationship has always come natural to both of us. Not that we don’t have to work on it but I can safely say for the most part, loving one another has been a piece-of-cake. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we hadn’t ended up together. I’m sure I would have often thought about, “the one that got away” – I know I would have been heart broken. I would have plenty to sing about, with a lot of these great albums, I believe one lost love can practically fill an entire album. It’s because pain is directly connected to the creative portion of our brain. I have no scientific proof on this matter and I refuse to do any research but I’m pretty sure I’m right…I’ve got to be. Just think about the troubled artists and their creations – See? Told you I was right. So anyway, it’s a good thing I’m not a songwriter, if I was, I would be forced to be artificial, nothing real about my heartache. However, I could write some magnificent love ballads but come on, who listens to that junk?

The next album on the list is full of these love-loss symptoms. In fact, when I dropped the album off for my Mother, I gave her a couple days to listen and then asked, “What do you think?” She smiled and said, “He’s heartbroken, isn’t he?” I don’t know for sure, perhaps he’s faking, I’m certain he’s not but you never know.

#15 Chris O"Brien - Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a great album for the shade, a perfect companion to an afternoon in the hammock; the tempo and feel of Lighthouse has a wonderful calming effect. Chris has a great voice and he controls it well, allowing it to tremble lightly enough to make you believe but not heavy enough to annoy you. Female background vocals support most of the tracks and it works wonderfully. This is a short album, ten tracks and around thirty-five minutes in length and every track deserving to be listened to. The title track is great, he has a handsome way with words, intelligent parallel's with his wording.

You are oceans

Oceans away

You are a lighthouse

You will burn out someday

So go on and move on

Go on and act all strong

Go ahead and fall for the next ship

That comes along

I’ll be fine

Goodbye

I've been waiting patiently for Chris O'Brien's next album, which is titled, "Little Red" and will be released February 1st of this year. Lighthouse should be in your library of music, so if you own it, awesome - If you don't, you should work on getting it. Learn more about Chris O'Brien below:

http://www.chrisobrienmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/chrisobrien

#16

By Digler, 11 January 2010

Despite the differences in writing style and the fact that we’ve designed these entries so that, like a Seinfeld episode, you can read and enjoy one without worrying what came before or after, I do think there are a few themes running straight through everything we’ve said so far. One, obviously, is that there is great music out there, you just have to be willing to find it (and hopefully in some small way, this blog can help you with that). The other Mike mentioned last week, this idea that we enjoy the road less traveled and possess an eager sense of discovery. But there is no need to be different just for the sake of being different. No need to try to be contrary to be cool. No need to pretend to be something you aren’t.

When we moved to Boston, it was for a job I got with the Dept. of Defense. On my very first day I spent the entire time with the HR folks filling out forms and attending training sessions. Towards the end of the day, the woman in charge, who was a little shocked to have a small-town Idaho boy in her office, finally asked me if I knew anyone in Boston. I told her not a soul. She said, well, then, you can be whoever you want to be and no one will be the wiser. I had never thought of it that way but it was true. At work I could pretend to be anyone I wanted because no one knew me from Adam. Fast forward a couple of years and I’m back in school, in my PhD program, getting ready to face a class full of college sophomores in a required business class all on my own. I wasn’t sure how I would approach the first five minutes, let alone the entire semester. How would I lecture? How would I grade? How would I get students to interact? I spoke to a senior professor I knew, a great teacher, who told me when he started he tried to be just like his favorite professor…and fell flat on his face. He said the best advice he could give me was to be myself and not pretend to be somebody else or copy someone else’s style.

It’s not that I’ve ever had a problem with pretending. As my friends used to say – you really are your own man. I didn’t become someone new for my new coworkers and I didn’t try to teach the class in a way that was foreign to me. But sometimes we all are a little guilty of going one way or the other – of pretending to like the popular TV show that we’ve never actually seen or denying our love of a certain big-budget Hollywood movie because it is so much cooler to act like we are above it. I hope in the New Year we can just be happy with owning up to who and what we are and what it is we enjoy – to appreciate what we share in common and yet be curious to learn what makes us different.

Which leads me to the next band and the next album on our list...

# 16, The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

I love this band. And I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything they’ve put out. The first thing I heard from them was Emotionalism and I worked backwards from there. Then, in 2009 they released I and Love and You – with much critical and popular acclaim. This album has been on, and is probably going to continue to be on, a lot of ‘best of’ albums. And I am not afraid to say that I think they deserve all the positive attention that they get. This is an album the whole family can love. I know mine does (my daughters request ‘Kick Drum’ at least seven times a day and my wife, who I think may have a crush on Scott and Seth Avett, has the album on constant rotation). This album is outstanding. The boo-birds will say they’ve sold out on this major-record label release. They’ll moan because the sound is slightly less blue-grass and more radio-friendly. They’ll argue the merits of some obscure bootleg, back when the band was ‘real’. All I know is that I can’t stop listening to this album. There are upbeat, catchy tunes, ballads; you name it, all built on their trademark harmonies and songwriting. To me it seems honest and positive. It’s where the boys are at – progressing as a band and attracting new fans while trying to bring the old ones along for the ride. They aren’t pretending to be anything other than what they are and it seems to me they are asking us to do the same. If you haven’t already (and some of you know who you are) give this album, and this band, a try. I dare you to honestly say you don’t like it. But if you don’t, well that’s fine too. We’ll still be friends. I’ll close with the final lyrics from one of my favorite songs on the album – The Perfect Space.

I wanna have pride like my mother has,

And not like the kind in the bible that turns you bad.

And I wanna have friends that I can trust,

That love me for the man I’ve become and not the man that I was.

Check out The Avett Brothers below:

http://www.theavettbrothers.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theavettbrothers

#17

Sorry for the delay. December and the Holidays had me a bit out of whack but I'm okay now. You can and should expect an update each and every Monday. Tuesday at the very latest.

I take such pleasure in traveling off the beaten path, perhaps not so much the beaten path as say: the mainstream route or the popular way. However, I am also a firm believer in liking what you like, love what you love and if everyone else seems to love it…well, so be it. We need more honesty and less trying to be different only for the sake of being different. However, with that being said, I do believe the allure of discovery is one of the attributes in why I enjoy the more obscure artists. I have traveled around and through the northwest a many, many mile over the last decade. And almost always, those miles have been accumulated on my odometer rather than frequent flyer miles. The other, “almost always” is that nearly every mile I’ve racked up, my brother Jacob, has been with me. We know little about the beaten path for we rarely choose it. We adore the back roads, approve and respect all Ma-n-Pa establishments and make for damn sure our food money is spent far and away from all restaurant chains. With this doctrine I must tell you the success rate is not at the one hundred percent mark. Let’s say it like it is, sometimes the food stinks and the service is bad. In spite of that, the experience is memorable. If ever you fancy a look into the wonderment that makes up the human race of this blessed Country, take the time and eat with the locals in Salmon, Idaho. Stop in Hamilton, Montana and walk the small main street and choose one of many eating establishments or if ever you visit North Bend, Washington, stroll past the round-a-about and on either side of main street you’ll see a variety of great diners.

For me, great music in the last decade is discovered in this same fashion. I’m not saying mainstream doesn’t produce or promote some really great musicians, but if that’s all were listening to, I’m a wee-bit heart broken for how much is being missed. I myself have realized I’m totally unable to find enough time in the week to search for new artists, my music budget is limited and I’ll-be-damned to buy only one song off an album. Albums are intended to be purchased as a whole and if my safe spending for that moment is ninety-nine cents then I’ll wait – I’ll wait until I can buy the entire thing or I will not buy it at all. I have noticed a vexatious trend that is taking place in our libraries of music. My private eye work has proven just that, the "i" is to blame. The "i" in itunes; that small vertical line with the dot hovering above in "ipod" is the guilty party. For less than a dollar we're able to purchase the "radio hit" the "one hit wonder" and so forth. Our MP3 players become filled with unfinished work - can you imagine buying only the title track off of Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin" and bypassing the magic of "With God On Our Side" or "Boots Of Spanish Leather". Okay, perhaps I've taken this too far and I should stand down; I too am guilty of buying that simple, little, stand-up-and-shake-it-like-you-got-it hit that plays on the radio every fifteen minutes. Who isn't?

The internet is the respirator in which grants these musicians life, no longer are they bound by the music labels that wish to control their authenticity and market their music with an eye single to the glory of money. Those chains have been broken and they are free to create without ever having to cooperate with the mainstream media. Album sales can exist while never even being close to having a song dance along the radio airwaves. I discovered this next artist by making sure my travel was off the beaten path, the trail was not well groomed but the path led to a breath-taking musician. Her voice so wonderful; stopping to listen is the only option she gives you.

Tift Merritt – Tambourine (2004)

This is one fine piece of songwriting. The opening track "Stray Paper" is upbeat, fine guitar work throughout and the tone is nicely set. The quality that exists with Tambourine is Tift herself, her voice so attractive and distinct. The third track "Good Hearted Man" is a story well told, honest and heartfelt. My favorite song from the album, "Laid A Highway" is a song about her small hometown and the transformation that takes place as the world gets bigger and faster. Tambourine is a fun album, twelve really solid tracks that belong together. Tift has other notable albums and I suggest looking into each of them. I just feel Tambourine is her best work to date. How Tift Merritt has avoided the mainstream is sort of perplexing to me, has it been by her own choice? I don't know. All I really know is I'm not ready to buy what mainstream is cooking - Not when albums like "Tambourine" are being left off the menu.

Learn more about Tift Merritt and listen to her music

http://www.tiftmerritt.com/