A few months ago, shortly after my dad put a CD player in my car (ah bliss… thanks Dad!), I burned five “favorites” CDs from the many hundreds of songs in my iTunes library. Most of the music is imported from family CDs I grew up listening to. It’s all great music… but I’m getting tired of it.
So I’m on a quest to find more.
I recently realized how limited my musical exposure actually is. I listen almost exclusively to the aforementioned family stuff (which includes a lot of instrumental Celtic and bluegrass, a little bit of contemporary Christian, some classical, and some oldies), and modern country (I got very familiar with this genre while working for a lady who played KHAY 24/7 for her rabbits. I took care of her rabbits, hence the familiarity).
One reason for this lack of musical well-roundedness is that I’m a tightwad. I can’t bring myself to spend $15 on a CD that I might not like. Another reason: I’m kinda picky. Few albums contain more than a handful of songs I really enjoy.
I’ve been trying hard lately to broaden my musical horizons. iTunes has helped. I can pick and choose the individual songs I want so that I don’t blow $$ on something I’ll never listen to. And the 30-second clips can give me a fairly good idea if it’s something I’m interested in. The problem is it’s so overwhelming. Too many choices! Where do I start?!
This is where you, dear reader, can help me. If you are so inclined, please comment with a few of your all-time, no-doubt-about-it, love-this-stuff-like-none-other favorite artists and/or albums and/or songs. Don’t tailor it to what you think I might like. The music I enjoy sometimes even surprises me.
You just might help determine what comprises the next “Shawni’s Favorites” CD. And if that’s not an incentive, what is?? (haha)
6 comments:
Let's see, looking at my most played songs, here are some that stick out:
Beautiful Life, by Fisher (yeah, this was in a toyota commercial a bit ago, but they expanded the song, and I like it. ;) )
Ross' Reel no. 4 - Reichswall Forest, by Alasdair Fraser. I got this cd for the guitarist, but the fiddler is good too. ;)
Henehene Kou 'Aka by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Some fun Hawaiian music. 8)
Bach's Lute suite #4, all of it is good, but if nothing else, get the Prelude. It's on my list of pieces to learn in my lifetime. Many recordings, mine is by Michael Chapdelaine.
You probably already know about the Chieftains...
My Heartly Service, by the Balitmore Consort. An interesting early music group.
Immigrant Dreams, by the Trail Band. The whole cd is good.
Those are all on iTunes, I believe.
I need to get more of my music out on the shared drive so you guys can peruse it. I may have a few songs or artists you haven't heard yet.
Thanks for all the suggestions Brian! I'll check them all out. :)
Evan, I agree. ;)
Let's see...who do I like? Michael Buble, Fernando Ortega, Richard Clayderman, Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, John Williams, John Tesh, Keith and Kristyn Getty, Irish Tenors, Gaithers, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Rice, David Phelps, Celtic Woman, Rich Mullins, Selah, Chris Tomlin, Jim Brickman....
(Note: I don't like everything that these artists/composers play/sing/write, but I like some of them. :-))
I also LOVE soundtracks to movies: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Gettysburg, Pirates of the Caribbean, John Williams' music, P&P, The Princess Bride....and the list goes on. ;-)
Have you ever heard of Pandora before? Pandora.com is a "radio station" online where you can enter an artist or song and it'll play music of a similar genre. I like it because it introduces you to other artists whom you might not have known/heard of before. That's how I learned about Richard Clayderman who is now one of my favorites. Oh yeah, and it's free. ;-)
Shawni - check out www.pandora.com. It's free music radio, and you can't really control what you get. Experiment with it a bit, enter some band names that you kinda, sorta like (or get close to hitting the mark) and it'll surely expose you to stuff you've never heard of before.
How about 'I'm a believer' by the Monkees?
'Blue Roses Falling' by Jake Shimabukuro
'It is well with my soul' by Jars of Clay
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