Just Thinking

Listening to ...

Gretel: Folk/Experimental/Americana

ht: a friend

Justthinking soundtrack

I should be studying, reading, writing, or earning some money but instead I've been playing around at finetune.com. The result of this play is a soundtrack for this blog, which you can listen to using the music player in the right margin. Check it out!

The playlist is an ecclectic blend including some Over the Rhine, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Mason Jennings, Johnny Cash, Petula Clark, and more, with a total of 45 tracks. That's about three hours of continuous listening pleasure, assuming you like the choices I made.

The tracks can be easily changed, so if you think it's missing a must-have track, send me an email or post a comment and I'll consider rotating it in. Or go to finetune.com and make your own playlist then come back here and tell us about it.

Enjoy!

Love songs

On Minnesota Public Radio, just now on the way home from a Valentine's Day breakfast, I heard a preview of tonight's countdown on "The Current" of the fifty greatest love songs of all time.* The list is derived from listener nominations.

For the third year in a row, the number one song is "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds. My sons are both big Ben Folds fans and so I've heard a lot of his music over the years. This one, however, I don't remember hearing before. The radio played it as part of the preview. It really is beautiful and worth a listen. Here are the lyrics.

"The Luckiest" is from  Folds' "Rockin' the Suburbs" album, which, alas, I do see sitting on my son's shelf. I think I'll stick it in the CD player and listen again.

*7 p.m. (CST), The Current, Minnesota Public Radio, 89.3 or via live stream.

New Over the Rhine Christmas CD

The new Over the Rhine Christmas CD, Snow Angels, is out. I have their earlier Christmas CD, The Darkest Night of the Year; in fact, it's playing as I type this. As usual, they generously offer a couple free mp3 downloads from the new album their website. Check out "Darlin (Christmas is Coming)".

Can't get it out of my head

A song keeps playing in my head. "Be Here Now" by Mason Jennings, a local guy who just released a new CD called Boneclouds. I think this is his sixth CD. My college freshman (oops, he's a sophomore now) introduced me to Jennings' music a couple years ago and I've been a fan since.

In fact, a couple weeks ago my son let me go with him and two of his friends to a concert Jennings gave at a local independent record store.

I'm not a music critic and so don't have handy the best descriptors of musical performance but let me just say that there is something lovely and good-spirited about his music. He's on a tour right now, so if you hear he's in your city check him out. Tomorrow night he's in New York City, the next Philadelphia, the next Washington DC, and more. Check out his website for concert info and some videos, including "Be Here Now" and if you're there listen also to "Sorry Signs on Cash Machines", another great song. My son even wrote a paper about him for school and turned his professor into a fan--maybe he'll give me a copy and I'll add an excerpt.

Over the Rhine fan club news

"Over the Rhine" has a new CD, Live from Nowhere. In accordance with their ongoing generosity in sharing and previewing music, they are making available two tracks from the CD on their website: Moondance and Looking Forward.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Listen and enjoy!

(You'll need RealPlayer)

Thanks to James Taylor via a National Public Radio interview.

Bach, the BBC, and Christmas

From December 16 through Christmas Day, the BBC is broadcasting continuously over ten days the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach. You can listen live from the "A Bach Christmas" page at the BBC site. You can also listen to works played previously.

Another freebie

My intention the last week or so has not been to focus on free mp3 downloads but it seems there have been a disproportionate mention of them lately, particularly because I'm about to tell you of another one. Many of you probably know that every Tuesday iTunes offers a free download. Last Tuesday's free download is "Jingle Bells" from Diana Krall's Christmas Songs Album (click the link and scroll down the right column). I just downloaded it and it's quite nice, but then, I like Diana Krall. The freebie is good through Monday.

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Over the Rhine 2

Thanks to a post on Doug Pagitt's blog, my husband and I quickly changed our plans yesterday and went to see Over the Rhine at the Fine Line Music Cafe last night. I wrote about them last summer on this blog and have been a fan since seeing and hearing them at the first of two Glen Workshops that I've attended. My husband had never seen them, however, so I jumped at the chance to get him down there and see them live.

They were fabulous. They sang some songs from their already released CDs, as well as some new songs slated for upcoming CDs (I hope) and their new Christmas CD that will be out before next Christmas. The crowd at the Fine Line loved them and they honored the sentiment by singing at least four six encore songs. Check out their schedule on their website as they are still have other appearances before ending their Christmas tour in a week or so.

They also offer a number of free mp3s on their website, including a brand new song, Flown Free. According to their website it is part of project in which various musicians were asked to contribute an original song for a CD based on a new translation of The Book of Psalms by Eugene H. Petersen. Their composition is based on lines from Psalm 129 & 124. I'm listening to it as I write this. Very nice!

Playing before Over the Rhine was Kim Taylor. I enjoyed her alot also. I just now checked out her website. She also offers a free mp3 download of a song she sang last night, which I liked very much (a demo version that she said she recorded in her basement).

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