Sleep came before words last night. They aren’t coming so easily this morning either, so I’ll pass along some words and music that have been collecting in my mental jukebox recently.
Thanks to John Brashier for pointing me to the new John Mellencamp song, “Our Country,” which you can listen to here. Makes me want to pull out my copy of Scarecrow for another listen.
I also spent some time looking at the NPR Song of the Day for the last week or two, which led me to a sample of Amos Lee’s new album. I gave his first record to Ginger for Christmas last year. If you have not heard him, here’s your chance:
Another John, one of our seminarians at church, gave me two CDs by Girlyman, a three person group who know a thing or two about harmony. They have some sound clips on their website. I would recommend checking out “Kittery Tide,” “Fall Stories,” and “Montpelier.”
On James Taylor’s website, there are two exceptional covers you can listen to on the home page: Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” and Joni Mitchell’s “The River.” Even though it’s only Halloween, it’s never too early for me to hear, “It’s coming on Christmas and they’re cutting down trees. . .”
Bob Bennett, an old friend and a wonderful song writer, has written “My Heart Across the Ocean,” about what it feels like to have a son in Iraq. You can download the song for free. Bob also offers a “song of the month” from his previous recordings for download.
Over the Rhine offers has an MP3 Attic on their site that has some cool stuff, as well as an MP3 Rarity (though not recently updated). “Flown Free” is a song based on lines for Psalms 124 &129. You can download all of the songs for free.
One more blast from my past. I don’t remember how I came across her website, but Karla Bonoff has some free downloads as well. I have two favorites: “Let It Be Me” (a duet with J. D. Souther) and “If He’s Ever Near” (recorded live).
That ought to keep you busy until it’s time to start handing out the candy.
Peace,
Milton
Oh, man, you just slingshot me back to 1981. “Save me, free me from my heart this time…” Karla Bonoff, so good.
Me, too! Thanks for giving me something to do this morning, post-sugar/Halloween/school project rush…I’ll spend the morning checking out these tunes.
Karla Bonoff gave words to a lot of my teenage angst. Revisited, in my 40’s, they still ring pretty darn true. “…and love’s so hard to find in this state of mind…”
if you like the karla bonoff song, here is a version by rosie thomas and ed harcourt:
let it be me.
i love this song! i didn’t know it had been around for so long.
i LOVE rosie. i hope you like her too!
Thanks for the link, Sierra. A really nice cover of the song.
Peace,
Milton
I just discoved Amos Lee as I was driving home from work one day. I almost had to stop the car and listened to lines like, “get it tight”. What a talent.
fishrock