Sometimes, it’s important to refuel. I have some albums that I slip on every day, and they fit like my favorite pair of jeans. I will never, ever get tired of hearing R.E.M.’s Life’s Rich Pageant, or Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins. That’s just how it is. I don’t necessarily look for them every day, but they always find their way back to me. Of course, which albums stick around the house for a while is really up to the season. Sun Kil Moon works better in Fall and Winter, and The B-52’s are a Summer band. That’s life.
But for all of this, it’s important to keep bringing in the new. Music affords us one of the few, endless adventures in life. There are so many bands – doing so very many things – that there will never be time for it all. You like Indie Rock, do you? Well, there are thousands of bands you have never heard of. No matter how hip. There’s someone, at this moment, doing something in a garage that’s going to be your next favorite song. Shouldn’t everything be like that? It’s awesome, and it’s the reason I’m here on this here website.
So, in this quasi-weekly installment, I’m going to share with you some of the amazing things that have come to me… well, since the last time I wrote this thing. As this is the first time, let’s stick with March. Some of this will be new, and some old, but hopefully it will all be awesome. Let’s get started… if you’ll just follow me:
Continue reading “Now Playing: March 18th, 2010”
Just what is folk music? Is it soft-spoken, intimate confessions poured out over an acoustic guitar? Is it “We Shall Overcome,” sung on the National Mall? Is it ever playful? Joyful? Does it do something other than teach? Can it be “pop?” Clearly, the answers to these questions are subjective, but at their core is a common notion: “Folk” music is “apart” from other music. There is something different about the folk singer – that mythic figure of storytelling and poetic wisdom. But is that really true?