Dreary Saturdays

Yesterday was a grey one here in the Field of Blue.  As such, I engaged in one of my favorite pastimes, listening to music.  On a normal Saturday that involves my headphones and the about 4,500 songs on my iPod.  This time, I took advantage of the NPR Music App and listened to various programs.  Some were from artists that I am familiar with and others of whom I had little or no knowledge.

Here is a taste of what I listened to and some comments:

• Tribute to Levon Helm on World Cafe - With the passing of such an influential artist, the retrospective of Helm's work both with The Band was a great reminder of how much of what I enjoy comes from my early exposure to him and The Band.
• Rufus Wainwright - I am the first to admit that I have been a fan of Wainwright's father for forty years; yeah all the way back to "Dead Skunk."  Until yesterday, I had not listened to any of the younger Wainwrights music.  Maybe it was the critical raves, maybe it was the fact that his musical style is not something I listen to much.  So I went in to hearing his first album blind.  I came away taken by the charm of his voice, both the singing and message.  It was a glorious 45 minutes in another place.
• Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Wilco Retrospective from World Cafe - Uncle Tupelo was a watershed band for me in the late '80s.  I was tired of what passed as popular music and was looking for artists that came from a traditional place with instrumentation and took it into new directions, and that was what Uncle Tupelo did.  The split in the group that led to Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar forming Wilco and Son Volt led to both exploring different tangents, but the music was always interesting.  So to hear an hour of all three groups was wonderful.
• Fitz and the Tantrums - I will be honest, I wanted to check this group out just because the name was so inventive.  So what did I find from their performance on Mountain Stage?  I found a group that was using a classic organ sound to explore and expand on pop and soul.  The beat was infectious, and I found myself interested in checking them out some more.

I find it strange that over all the years I have been putting my thoughts down, I have rarely written about two thing that I spend a great deal of time enjoying - words and music.  So don't be surprised if from time to time you come around and find me talking about what may be filling my ears now.  Let me warn you, that my taste in music is not static.  I am not some "old" guy who is stuck just listening to the music he grew up with.  I am always on the look out for something new and interesting.  So if you know of something, add a comment.