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Sitting In A Tree…

29 Jun

The upcoming nuptials of my cousin and his wife-to-be inspired me to put together a comprehensive list of love songs/songs about love. I’ve been working on a playlist entitled “songs for your honey” over the past few months and it seemed like an appropriate time to get my act together and publish it to 8tracks. I decided not to limit myself to a single CD’s worth of songs and instead included tracks from a variety of genres and time periods. I came up with 64 songs that make me think about my sweetie. The initial thought was to include “When I’m Sixty Four” in the mix, but 8tracks limits you to two songs per artist and I chose two different Beatles songs. Finding so many songs about love was not a challenging task, as musicians seem to really love writing about L-O-V-E. And how wonderful to listen to all of these songs that ooze so much emotion. Some of it gushy and mushy, some sweet and tender, some simple and to the point, and some just plain raw. I’m sure that there are many, many other songs that I failed to include. I encourage you to share some of your favorite love songs. Perhaps I can publish volume 2 sometime in the future.

For now, enjoy the love…

http://8tracks.com/mixes/339593/player_v3

1. Come Into My Life – Jimmy Cliff
2. You Are The Best Thing – Ray Lamontagne
3. My Love Is – Willie John
4. I Found My Everything – Mary J Blige
5. You’re All I Need To Get By – Aretha Franklin
6. Lucky (feat. Colbie Caillat) – Jason Mraz
7. Romeo’s Tune – Steve Forbert
8. You’re My Home – Billy Joel
9. Sea Of Love – Cat Power
10. You Mean Everything To Me – Shawn Mullins
11. Lean On Me – Beth Orton
12. I’m Yours – Jason Mraz
13. Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love – Pink Martini
14. Nothing I Can Do – Ben Taylor
15. Make You Feel My Love – Adele
16. All You Need Is Love – The Beatles
17. Not Fade Away -The Rolling Stones
18. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) – James Taylor
19. We Walk The Same Line – Everything But The Girl
20. Ice Cream – Sarah McLachlan
21. I Was Brought To My Senses – Sting
22. As – Stevie Wonder
23. You Make Me Feel Like Dancing – Leo Sayer
24. Your Smiling Face – James Taylor
25. Summer In The Sandbox – Domestic Problems
26. We Are In Love – Harry Connick, Jr.
27. Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles
28. Shine On – Entrain
29. Crazy Love – Van Morrison
30. Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye
31. That’s How Strong My Love Is – Otis Redding
32. True Companion – Marc Cohn
33. She’s Got A Way [live] – Billy Joel
34. Since I Met You Baby – Ivory Joe Hunter
35. The Things We Do For Love – 10cc
36. Tell Me ‘Bout It – Joss Stone
37. What Am I Gonna Do With You – Barry White
38. Thank You – Bonnie Raitt
39. Beyond The Blue – Joan Armatrading
40. All Around Us – Donavon Frankenreiter
41. Be My Honeypie – The Weepies
42. Better Together – Jack Johnson
43. Can’t Help Falling In Love (Live At Daytrotter) – Ingrid Michaelson
44. Come Away With Me – Norah Jones
45. Dance Me to the End of Love (Bonus) – The Civil Wars
46. Dream A Little Dream Of Me – The Mamas & The Papas
47. Fallin’ For You – Colbie Caillat
48. Hold You In My Arms – Ray LaMontagne
49. Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
50. Honey – Erykah Badu
51. I Love You – Sarah McLachlan
52. If The Stars Were Mine – Melody Gardot
53. Loving You – Paolo Nutini
54. Need Your Love So Bad – Fleetwood Mac
55. Say Hey (I Love You) – Michael Franti & Spearhead
56. Sweet Pea – Amos Lee
57. Warm Ways – Fleetwood Mac
58. You and I – Ingrid Michaelson
59. Dancing in The Moonlight – Toploader
60. January Wedding – The Avett Brothers
61. The One Who Love You The Most – Brett Dennen
62. From the Clouds – Jack Johnson
63. What the World Needs Now Is Love – Jackie DeShannon
64. (Just Like) Starting Over – The Flaming Lips

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Songs for my dear mom

13 Jun

In honor and in memory of my mom, here are two songs that have a very special place in my heart and make me think of her each time I hear them.

The first, is a most beautiful cover of the Leonard Cohen song “Dance Me to the End of Love”. My mom was a huge Leonard Cohen fan and she also really, really loved Jennifer Warnes’ album entitled Famous Blue Raincoat. Let me just say that we listened to this album a lot! If you have not ever heard it before, it is worth checking out. A wonderful collection of Leonard Cohen covers. And of course, a collection that I hold dear to my heart since each song reminds me so much of my mom. Well, flash forward a number of years and I am most certain that we should have truly loved this sweet and sultry version of “Dance Me to the End of Love” performed by The Civil Wars. They are a duo comprised of California-to-Nashville transplant Joy Williams and her Alabaman partner, John Paul White. I also highly recommend checking out their album entitled Barton Hollow. You won’t be disappointed.

Here is a live version of “Dance Me to the End of Love”


Amazing, right?!! Leonard Cohen is a poetic genius and the combination of their two voices together just takes my breath away.

The second song that makes me think of my mom is a sad, but beautiful song entitled “Wish You Well” by Katie Herzig. This is a song that I first heard on WMVY awhile back and I instantly fell for Katie’s rich, melodic voice. I downloaded it from iTunes and it was not until after a couple of months of listening to it that the lyrics grabbed me with such an intensity that I can’t quite describe. The flood gates opened and the tears just started to pour out. It is both unbelievably sad and very uplifting at the same time. My mom was truly an amazing woman who really did show me how to find my way. I thank her for so many gifts that she left me and am grateful to have had such a strong and confident woman for a mom.

Here is “Wish You Well” by Katie Herzig:

Lucky Number 7

10 Jun

Wow! That is about all I can say right now. I’ve experienced it first hand and I’m pretty amazed. I recently published a playlist to 8tracks entitled “Summer Time Fun” (http://8tracks.com/mixes/319131/player_v3). This is the 7th playlist that I’ve posted and I guess that 7 is my lucky number. Apparently you just need a few re-posts to Facebook or Stumbled Upon, or even a single “tweet” and the word really gets out. And I mean really gets out. My last 6 playlists received anywhere from 10-25 plays and each of them had a handful of “likes”.

[For those of you who have not checked out 8tracks yet…it is a site that streams people’s handmade mixes. You can search by genre or artist or peruse the “new today”, “hot this week” or “popular this month” lists. As an 8tracks “DJ”, I can see how many times my mix was listened to as well as how many people “liked” it and any comments that may have been left.]

Well, that single tweet and the reposts to Facebook and Stumbled Upon have landed my “Summer Time Fun” playlist on page 3 of the “hot this week” list. I’m not sure how 8tracks orders the mixes, but certainly being on page three helps since there are many, many pages. I published the playlist about a week and half ago and already almost 800 people have listened to it and 80+ people like it. And the numbers just keep going up. Pretty cool!

This new experience with social media got me thinking about the power of the internet and each of our individual voices. It is amazing how easy it has become to spread the “word”. My graduate degree is in Mass Communications and it is truly fascinating to see how drastically things have changed with the introduction of social networking applications like Facebook, Stumbled Upon and Twitter. Once even just a few people jump on your “bandwagon” the “message” (whether it be a playlist, a video on youtube, a product on a consumer site, a political speech, etc.) can spread so quickly– aka “go viral”. Quite a powerful tool for the masses.

Although, I must admit that I am a relative dinosaur when it comes to social networking. I had never heard of Stumbled Upon, I don’t tweet, nor am I a twitter follower. Facebook and blogging are as far as I’ve gotten. I took a quick look at Stumbled Upon and I don’t quite get how to use it. Wait, should I not be admitting that? Quite honestly, I don’t think I need another time-sucking site to gobble up more of my precious moments. So I’ll skip that one for now. Although, I am a wee bit curious to hear from anyone who uses Stumbled Upon and the ways you find it useful. I guess I don’t want to be too much of a dinosaur.

Oh and another topic….thanks to all those that recently subscribed to the blog. I really appreciate your support. And perhaps someday this too will take of like my “Summer Time Fun” playlist and lots of people will be following my blog. One can dream, right?

Hello Summer!

29 May

It happened. I’m not sure when…but the season is truly upon us here on Martha’s Vineyard. It always seems to sneak up on me and I never really feel fully prepared for the increased amount of traffic, the clueless tourists walking backwards down the middle of the street, the frightening amount of people donning whale belts, nantucket reds and cable-knit sweaters, and the inability to find a parking space at the supermarket. Sigh. But on the upside, the arrival of summer means warmer weather, flip flops, fresh local veggies, outdoor showers, potluck dinners, beach days and lots of great music!

So enjoy this fun, summer playlist that I just made (songs/artists listed below). Hopefully you can blast it on the outdoor speakers or crank it loudly in your car. 8tracks now has an app for the iPhone so you can stream the playlist through your phone. Or you can sign up for my blog (click the “sign me up” button over on the right) and I’ll send you a CD. Already signed up? Get a friend to sign up and I’ll send you both a copy.

Happy Summer Everybody!

Summer Time Fun: http://8tracks.com/mixes/319131/player_v3

Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People
Howlin’ For You – The Black Keys
You’ve Got The Love – Florence And The Machine
Mudhouse – Bob Schneider
Brother Lee – Citizen Cope
Railway – Dispatch
Little Lovin’ – Lissie
Kick Drum Heart – The Avett Brothers
Down in the Valley – The Head And The Heart
Music – The Beautiful Girls
Loving You – Paolo Nutini
Clementine – Sarah Jaffe
All Summer – Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam of Vampire Weekend
Relator – Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
Be OK – Ingrid Michaelson
She Moves In Her Own Way – The Kooks
Pretty Please [Love Me] – Estelle
I Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix) – Jackson 5
Electric Feel – MGMT
Call It What You Want – Foster The People

Where Are The Women?

15 Apr

My recent post (Who’s Going to Newport) got me thinking about women artists and their lack of presence at the festival this year. Perhaps that is why I was a bit underwhelmed with the line-up announcement. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Gillian Welch fan and am thrilled to get to see her perform this summer (especially since we went on the “other” day the last two times she graced the Fort Adams stage.) And I know that Mavis Staples is a “legend”, but she is not too folky….more gospel if you ask me. In addition, both of these women were just recently (2009) included the festival line-up. I had a wedding to go to on the day that they performed, so I saw Newport Folk Festival alums Judy Collins and Joan Baez. Last year, I got to see Sharon Jones (and the Dap Kings) and she was great, but again not much of a folk singer. So this got me pondering about women artists that I am fond of and wondering why they aren’t going to be at Newport this year.

I would have loved to see Lissie this summer. I think she would have been a great addition to the festival. There are lots of other fantastic female singers that I would have been thrilled to see perform at Fort Adams State Park. When I did a little digging, I discovered that many of these talented women have indeed performed at the festival in years past. In no particular order, here are twenty women singers (some are newer to the music scene than others) that I believe would be excellent additions to the festival….Tift Merrit (2009), Brandi Carlile (2010), Shawn Colvin (2000), Cowboy Junkies (2008), Lucinda Williams (2004), Bonnie Rait, Sarah McLachlan (1994), Neko Case (2009), Indigo Girls (1996/2006), Jonatha Brooke (2001), Rickie Lee Jones, Laura Viers, Lissie, Shelby Lynne, Sarah Jarosz (2010), Joni Mitchell (1969), Tracy Chapman, Yael Naim, Joan Armatrading (1996) and Sheryl Crow.

I did have the pleasure of seeing the Cowboy Junkies in 2008, Neko Case in 2009, the Indigo Girls in 2006 and Sarah McLachlan in 1994. I was either not there the day that Tift Merrit, Brandi Carlile and Sarah Jarosz performed or I was just unaware of their talent and didn’t go over to the smaller stage where they were most likely performing. I guess I should try to get ahead of the curve and start listening to Liz Queler and the Wailin’ Jennys so that I don’t miss out on a couple of up and coming female folksters.

For your listening enjoyment, I put together a 20 Wonderful Women playlist on 8tracks. Enjoy listening to it here: http://8tracks.com/mixes/283903/player_v3

And since I’m always on the look-out for new music, I’d love to hear about some of your favorite female artists. C’mon people…don’t be shy!

Last thing….don’t forget to sign up for an email subscription to my blog. A CD with these fabulous women (or music from a completely genre) could be yours just for signing up. Tell me the genre you are interested in (or a few favorite artists), and I’ll make you your very own CD. Already subscribed? Get a friend to subscribe and I’ll make you both CDs!

Who’s Going to Newport?

4 Apr

My intention was to get this post out last Tuesday, when the line-up for the 2011 Newport Folk Festival was announced. Life seems to have gotten in the way and it is just now that I have a free moment to write. Each spring my family (ok, maybe just me) eagerly awaits the Newport Folk Festival line-up. Typically, there is one day that has many more artists that we know/like and it is easy to decide which day we will be attending. This year the choice was not as clear-cut, at least initially. Here are the artists scheduled to perform:

First, Saturday’s line-up (July 30th):
The Decemberists, Gillian Welch, Gogol Bordello, Earl Scruggs, Ramblin Jack Elliot, Tegan & Sara, Mavis Staples, The Felice Brothers, Delta Spirit, Freelance Whales, Devils Makes Three, Song Circle w/ Dar Williams, Ellis Paul, John Gorka, Liz Queler, Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three, Typhoon, River CIty Extension, PS22 Chorus, The Wailin’ Jennys, The Ebony Hillbillies, and What Cheer? Brigade.

And here is Sunday’s line-up (July 31st):
EmmyLou Harris, Elvis Costello (acoustic), Amos Lee, M.Ward, Wanda Jackson, Middle Brother, Justin Townes Earle, Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Civil Wars, Trampled By Turtles, The Cave Singers, The Head & The Heart, Secret Sisters, David Wax Museum, Mountain Man Brown Bird, The Seeger Clogging All-Stars.

Hmmmm, a tough choice. Nobody that I was super, super excited about. In the past, there have typically been a handful of performers I was really eager to get to see (Jakob Dylan, Cat Power, Cowboy Junkies, Neko Case, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, The Avett Brothers, just to name a few). After consulting with my husband and my dad (who joins us each year), we opted for Saturday’s line-up. Rob is not a big EmmyLou Harris fan and my dad really wanted to see the Decemberists. Oh, and my sister weighed in even though she can’t partake in the festivities. She gave a plug for Gogol Bordello, who I had not heard of, but she said is lots of fun. There you go….decision made. I really enjoy Gillian Welch and will be happy to see her perform as well as a few other bands that I am familiar with; Tegan & Sara, The Felice Brothers, Delta Spirit & Dar Williams. I would have liked to see The Civil Wars (I recently purchased their album) and Middle Brother (my friend Anne Marie just informed me that they are the next hot band). Rob and I are big Elvis fans and we’ll will miss seeing him, but we’ve seen him a number of times in the last few years.

So now that you know who’s going to Newport….who’s going to Newport?

Listening to New Music: Part 2

21 Mar

In my first Listening to New Music post, I talked about my tendency towards picking a few singles off an album and never really listening to the whole CD from start to finish. After writing that post, I got to thinking and decided to commit to picking an album every month that I would listen to in its entirety. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been listening to the album Furr by Blitzen Trapper. Some songs are really growing on me and others are a bit too loud for me and I find myself skipping them. I definitely find that I crave more of a variety (still addicted to those playlists) and I am not as patient as I used to be when it comes to listening to an album in its entirety. Although, I had an interesting observation the other day…if the album is an actual CD that we bought (as opposed to residing in my iTunes library on my computer) it tends to get some serious playtime in our CD player in the kitchen. Last spring I bought my husband 2 CDs as part of his father’s day present; She & Him: Volume 2 and Sarah McLachlan: Laws Of Illusion. We listened to them both LOTS and I love them!

Shortly after my first “Listening to New Music” post, my sister and I were chatting and she told me about a website called eMusic . eMusic is a digital music club that makes finding and buying music a total joy. All music purchased from their site is yours to own (not rented or streamed) and you decide which membership level you want to sign up for. The basic membership is $11.99/month which gives you $11.99 worth of music and all other membership levels give you bonus credit. For example, if you sign up for the eMusic Plus plan, you pay $15.99/month but get $16.99 worth of music credit. The higher the membership level, the more music credit you receive. You can buy singles or albums (typically for less than they cost on iTunes and Amazon). As a bonus, you get $20 of credit just for signing up! Those who know me, know that I cannot resist a deal…so I decided to join. BTW- if you are interested in checking eMusic out with a free $10.00 credit, let me know and I can forward you an invitation. There is no need to join if you don’t want to and you can keep all of the music that you downloaded.

So far, I’ve been very pleased with eMusic. I love the amount of information you can get for each album (critic’s review, user’s reviews, user’s star ratings, concert information if they happen to be on tour, as well as related artists and other album recommendations). It is super easy to create/save lists of albums that you might want to buy later. In the short time that I’ve been an eMusic member, I have already accumulated quite a list of music I might want to buy in the future as well as decided to buy an album from an artist that I had never heard of (An Australian band called The Beautiful Girls). The ratings and reviews for their US debut album, as well as listening to the short clips of the songs had me purchasing with great confidence. You can go to eMusic to check out the entire album Learn Yourself as well as enjoy listening/watching their track “Music” below. Quite apropos if you ask me!

All Summer

12 Mar

Check out this fun song. I discovered it when listening to a playlist on 8tracks. It is an interesting trio: Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam of Vampire Weekend and the song was made exclusively for Converse. It is catchy and certainly gets me excited about the possibility of warm summer days. March is a rough month here on MV and we need every little bit of upbeat summer inspiration that we can get.

Check it out the video here (scroll down to the “video” link):

All Summer

You can also download the song for free (click on “download the track” on the same page with the video). And on another note…I’m looking forward to checking out some of Best Coast’s music. I had not heard of them before hearing this song.

Listening to New Music

5 Mar

This is a topic that I find quite curious. Lots has changed since iTunes and music apps came along (at least for me). In the “olden days”, as my girls like to say, I would hear a song on the radio and then I would hope that the DJ would say who the artist was. There was also a time that I would go the used record store with my dad and sister and we would buy an album because the cover looked interesting, or because a friend had mentioned that we should check them out, or because we had heard them on the radio. Then, you would most likely listen to the whole record (waiting desperately to hear the song that you really liked). Once CDs came along (I think our family got a CD player sometime around 1985– dad, feel free to correct me if I am wrong), you could skip to the track that you really wanted to hear. But ultimately, you would end up listening to the whole album which meant getting to really know the deep cuts. This meant getting to discover some outstanding tracks that never got any airplay. 

Flash forward to the present. Now when you hear a song (on the radio, in a tv show, from a movie, while you are in a restaurant, just about anywhere really) you can use the Shazam app to “tag” it and find out the name of the artist and song. Amazing! Such instant gratification. If you don’t already have Shazam, you should definitely check out it. Then you can decide whether you want to buy the single from iTunes or whether you want to go ahead and get the whole album. In either case, I find that I hardly ever listen to an album in its entirety. I either just get the single, or if I get the album I end up putting the track that I really liked (plus maybe a couple others that sound interesting) onto a playlist with a bunch of other new music. The upside is the instant gratification of listening to all this new music that I am eager to check out. The downside is that I feel like there is tons of music I never end up  listening to. I also recognize that I am likely missing out on the musician’s artistic expression. Isn’t there something to be said about the album as a whole composition? 

I’d be curious to know how you discover and listen to new music these days.

Loving Lissie

27 Feb

A couple months back I heard a song on my local radio station (WMVY) that really caught my attention. I didn’t hear them say who the artist was, so I called up to find out and they told me her name was “Lissie”. I actually think they were highlighting her in their “What’s New For Lunch” segment. I have not had a chance to listen to the whole album in depth, but I love the few tracks that I chose for one of my recent playlists. She has an amazing sound and I hope that one day I get to see her live. Maybe she’ll be at the Newport Folk Festival or perhaps she’ll come and play at Nectar’s on Martha’s Vineyard. That would be cool…

In the meantime, enjoy listening/watching “When I’m Alone”. I get goose bumps every time I listen to this song. Definitely one to crank up super loud so that you can sing along. 


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