I have been listening to an eclectic mix of stuff lately and today alone I have enjoyed some Andy McKee, Dirty Dancing Soundtrack, Don Henley, Josh Ritter and Machine Head.
A couple of weeks ago I went with my In-laws and wife to see Gordon Giltrap in concert. It was a spellbinding night with some excellent, technical guitar picking and a wonderful local venue where instead of rows of seats, we sat at tables with candles. The style of music on offer made me go home and dig out some of my old acoustic favourites and I’ve been playing some Les Finnigan (who is an outstanding Canadian finger picker I saw live in Vancouver many years ago) and Erik Mongrain (another incredible finger picker). They are both well known for their acoustic guitar tapping technique and it is with this in mind I started looking out for other similar musicians and stumbled across Andy McKee. He is also a technically brilliant finger picker/tapping guitar player and his album ‘Joyland’ is a wonderful introduction. Check him out on YouTube too.
I was reading one of my numerous music magazine today and one of the articles was about the top 50 weediest tracks. One of them was ‘She’s like the Wind’ by Patrick Swayze from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. I have to admit I actually like this song and can remember watching the film as a youngster and this song coming on. I dug out my old soundtrack CD and played it through and whilst there are some cheesy tracks on there, there are also some great motown and RnB classics that redeem it overall.
I am always partial to a bit of Don Henley and you can’t beat ‘New York Minute’ at this autumnal time of year and it’s brooding intro with keyboards and bass always makes the hairs stand up on my neck. I love this track. I also happen to love ‘Boys of Summer’ for a very personal reason regular readers may recall and also just because it is just a damn fine song!
I have been listening to quite a bit of Josh Ritter lately and his albums ‘Hello Starling and ‘Golden Age of Radio’ are both particularly good. They are mellow, easy going and nice to just sit and read with them playing in the background. They don’t make my insides ache, but they have some pleasant tracks to while away the time.
Machine Head have been introduced to me over the past couple of years by a very dear friend of mine and I have to say that after just one album I was hooked. I finally completed my collection of their albums in the past couple of weeks and you can’t beat the pick-me-up their music offers. Their live album ‘Hellalive’ is one I’ve been playing extensively lately and I love the lead singers interaction with the audience and how he gets them going and how he obviously appreciates his fans. This is a great album if you like your metal heavy and raw and I can’t wait for another live album to be released in November.
So, as you can see, whilst my life has been so hectic lately and I’ve barely had time to think, let alone write to you all, my love of music remains undiminished and I hope I will be able to write more regularly in 2013.
Do share your new music finds and what has been moving you lately.
