July 2007 Best CDs

Of the CD's that arrived at the station in July 2007, the ones I liked best were:

• Arbo, Rani, and Daisy Mayhem, Big Old Life
• Atkins, Chet, The Essential Chet Atkins
• Atkins, Chet, and Paul, Les, Chester and Lester
• BlueHighways TV Radio Sampler - Volume One
• Lewis, Jerry Lee, A Half Century of Hits
• Morrison, Dave, A Little Further Down the Line
• Putumayo Presents: Americana
• Sass!, Album One
• Richey, Kim, Chinese Boxes
• Thompson, Linda, Versatile Heart
• Wounded Heart of America (Tom Russell Songs)

The two Chet Atkins CD's mostly contain instrumentals. They don't particularly fit with my show, or resonate with me personally, but I included them on the list because of the quality of the music.

Dave Morrison's strength is his songwriting more than his musicianship. Many of his songs touch on themes of aging and loss. We seem to get quite a few CD's by singer/songwriter types. In many cases, the lyrics are not particularly good. Dave Morrison joins Dennis Caraher and Kate Blain on the list of songwriters who impressed me.

Sass! is a duo I had not heard before. They're good musically, and have clever lyrics. Many of their songs are humorous.

Most of the songs on Linda Thompson's album didn't quite resonate with me as far as the lyrics go, but the musicianship was excellent, and she has such a good voice, a voice that is rich with emotion.

June 2007 Best CDs

Of the CD's that arrived in the station in June, 2007, my favorites were:

• Gypsy Music of the Balkans
• Jamcrackers, Jamcrackers
• Oasis Acoustic - Volume VII, No. 7
• Oasis World Vol. VII, No. 2
• Presley, Elvis. Elvis at the Movies
• Springsteen, Bruce, with the Sessions Band, Live in Dublin

Except for the Bruce Springsteen album, I liked them all right away. The Bruce Springsteen album turned me off at first. In general, I'm rather indifferent to Bruce Springsteen, but when he does folk songs, my feeling is often that he is taking really good songs and ruining them. For many of the tracks I listened to on Live in Dublin, my feeling was, "That's terrible singing!" However, I liked two songs on the first CD of the album and quite a few on the second CD. I think you have to get into the right frame of mind, and then they grow on you.

Other than that, the other albums I like wholeheartedly. Oasis puts out compilation CD's which are mostly musicians who have more talent than fame. The Jamcrackers are Peggy Lynn, Dan Duggan, and Dan Berggren, all good local musicians who sometimes sing together and sometimes sing separately.

May 2007 best CDs

I think May has so far been the second best month of 2007 for getting good CD's. The best was January. My picks for the best CD's received in May:

• Amani Kids, Amani: Songs of Peace for the Children of Kilimanjaro
• Blain, Kate, The Good Life
• Blake, Norman and Nancy, Back Home in Sulphur Springs
• Greencards, The, Viridian
• Kaplan, Paul, Paul Kaplan
• Mustard's Retreat, A Resolution of Something
• Native Flute Ensemble, Spirit Wind
• Oasis World, Vol. VII, No. 1
  
• World Circuit Presents
  

Viridian by the Greencards was the most anticipated. I really like the Greencards, and I knew their album had come out before we got it, so I was eagerly awaiting it. I think it lived up to expectations.

The least anticipated was Paul Kaplan's self-titled CD. I had never heard of him before, and it was just a little demo CD, but wow, it was really something. It's discovering things like that that make it worth my while to preview all the CD's we get, rather than just go for the ones I already expect to like.

Kate Blain's CD was also under-anticipated. I had heard her a little bit before, and had concluded that I wasn't particularly a fan, but then I liked song after song. What I like her for is her songwriting (I'm still not so sure about her singing). I was especially struck by her song "Outside." Every now and then when I'm previewing CD's, a song causes tears to come to my eyes, and I take that as a sign that this song really does something, so it's worth playing on my show. (Sort of like how a factor that convinced Tao Rodriguez Seeger that he wanted to be a musician was having someone punch him because of a song he played. He realized he could really affect people through music.) Anyhow, this time "Outside" was the song that brought tears to my eyes. It's from the point of view of someone in a nursing home, saying "I miss the outside." Last year, when I was sick for a while, I remember listening to music and thinking, "People in songs are always doing things -- sailing on ships, falling in love, getting their heart broken, marching for peace. Some of us don't have the energy to do stuff like that." I think people who don't have the energy to do stuff are often the forgotten ones, and I appreciate it when songwriters remember them.

Then of course there is the ever-present category of albums I might have liked had they not disappeared. There are a lot of DJ's, some of whom misfile or illegally borrow CD's. There were six CD's from May that I couldn't find, of which two I think I would have liked. Both were from artists whose CD's have disappeared in the past, so I guess they are popular with someone besides me. Anyhow, the CD's that I would have liked:

• Cash, Johnny, Amazing Grace: One Hour Radio Special
• Krauss, Alison, One Hour Radio Special