jams

preface. i love spotify. if you have it, this blog is for you. if not, get it. if you cant.... i am sorry. use google... i love them too. actually, about 50 fold more than i love spotify. enjoy.

now that my life is shifting gears a lot of people have been asking me what i will be doing for work instead of touring. well, i have taken up residency at a local sound comany. its something that i have done freelance in my time off for the past decade. i also spent about four years pre-touring turning shit up. thats what we do. we make things louder. in not much more detail, i set up sound systems so that you can hear your concert... or hear the guy speak at graduation, or hear the music at a wedding. we pretty much cover it all. as long as there needs to be speakers.

so now that i am home doing that, i am seeing way more bands than i was seeing when i was only working with one. a few weeks ago, i saw 18 bands in one day. over the course of the next few days i will be seeing a similar number. for as far back as i can remember people have always asked me about new music. ive always been in a spot professionally to supply them with a few artists that i felt would suit them. tour life kinda dampened that. sure, i found new bands, but it was like 1 or 2 per tour and not the multiple per week that i am seeing now. i couldnt be happier. once again i feel like i can suggest a wealth of artists to those who have inquired. so, for your benefit, since you didn't inquire, here are three artists that i have seen in the past few weeks that made an impact on me.

NEW BANDS
The London Souls
power trio rock in the style of the fucking classics. this is what every band who wants to sound vintage strives to be

Bad Rabbits
if you loved the Gap Band or EU and are 23.... this is for you.

Town Mountain
blue grass is on the rise. these guys are a good strain of yeast.

and now that i am talking about music and songs... i have a lot of music. a lot of fucking music. so much music that sometimes i forget what i have and even have songs i have never heard. sometimes, while listening to music on random, i discover gems that have been buried under the tried and true favorites for years and years. i buy a lot of greatest hits. a lot of them have some "hits" on them that i dont think were ever even released as singles. in this case, its like i am suggesting new music to myself.

SONGS THAT SHOW UP FROM MY COLLECTION
The Cowboy Song Faith No More
nothing to be said other than "if you dont like it, go buy a perry como cd"

A Quality Shoe Mark Knophler
simple. utilitarian. practical.

now, totally straying from the topic of new music. i recently drove from Richmond, VA to Reading, PA and back in the same day. It was 10 hours worth of driving. 10 hours of random music from the almost 12,000 songs on my iPod. a lot came on that i loved. a lot came on that i skipped. 2 songs came on that have been pretty important to me. they reminded me of a 3rd that is important for the same reason. these 3 songs have the ability to, without fail, bring tears to my eyes. oddly, only when i sing along.


songs that make me cry
Pedal Steel Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers
so much of the songs rings perfectly true about my relationship with my grandfather. he passed, much like the grandfather in this song. but the tiny details that match up make it beat the shit out of home.

Wally Aslyn
same grandfather. when i define love, it is the love of my grandparents. this song, while the gender is of the deceased is reversed, seems to fit so well. loves who loved an entire lifetime.

End of October Pat McGee Band
my friend died. my dear friend (typing this makes me tear up). another great friend wrote a song about it. the lyrics are the most beautiful and appropriate lyrics ever written. watch the video. listen to the story.

music. it really is the most important thing in my life. it drives me to do what i do. it suits my every emotion. i just want to share it.