"Raining in Baltimore" by Counting Crows

This was really my SOTD yesterday, but my computer was messed up and wouldn't let me get online.  Lucky for me, today is still dreary, and the Counting Crows are still awesome.  The Counting Crows are a tried and true American Rock Band.  They gained popularity during the early 90's as a pop-rock band with hits like "Mr. Jones" and "Round Here."  The Crows are a fun loving Southern California band that plays a lot of upbeat fun summertime songs, and have toured with acts like Bob Dylan and The Cranberries.  I loved the Counting Crows in high school, and even though their popularity has kind of stumbled in the last couple of years with a CD that fell under some critical reviews in early 2008, they are still a great  band with some really solid songs.

"Raining in Baltimore" is a song off their 1993 release "August and Everything After." This song is a sad, simple, heartfelt song.  As Adam belts out powerful lines about getting what you pay for in life you can hear that he means what he's saying. In desperation when he forces out sad lyrics like "There's things I remember and things I forget, I miss you I guess that I should, Three thousand five hundred miles away, but what would you change if you could?" The Counting Crows were the first concert that I ever saw at the Post Gazette Pavilion, and in the few times that I have seen them since then it has always seemed like Adam was deep guy that really meant what he said.  I've seen concerts where he rambled on for twenty minutes about how "dislocation" is the greatest problem in our world today, and anyone who watches him knows that he is into what he's saying.

I don't really know if the rain Adam is singing about is falling from the sky or if life is pouring on him, but this song  always hits me hard and on a rainy overcast day like today it just seems fitting. As I was listening to the song I realized I could use a raincoat today... the truth is I could probably go for a phone call too.

I couldn't find an official music video or a good live performance of the song, so my apologies for the boring video.

"Falling Slowly" by The Frames

Glen Hansard is a talented cat, and falling slowly is a highly acclaimed song.  Glen is from Dublin and became popular in the states through the 2006 movie "Once," a film that is centered around two characters pursuit to make excellent music.  It's a really down to earth movie.  No far out unrealistic love stories, no big explosions, no solid feel-good conclusions...maybe it's a lot like life.  Since then, he has been collaborating with fellow "Once" star Marketa Irglova with an act called "The Swell Season."

All of that stuff is great, but I love the story behind Glen's first band, "The Frames."  Apparently at age 13 Glen dropped out of high school and started playing music on the streets of Dublin.  While Hansard was working as a street performer he was scraping up enough money to get some recording time for a demo.  After he was able to scrape together enough change he made 50 copies of that first demo, it worked its way into the right peoples hands, and Glen got a deal with Island Records in 1990.  So, Glen formed "The Frames" and they started rocking all over the UK.  Even if you have heard "Falling Slowly" in the movie or with Marketa, give it a shot with "The Frames" for a little more rock and roll.  Hansard has a powerful voice, and sings with a lot of grit and truth.

This past year I got to spend an awesome weekend at the legendary Newport Folk Festival, and the "Swell Season" was one of the closing acts of the festival.  The set was good, but I got distracted by a buzz surrounding "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros" so I only caught half of their set, but i thought they were sweet.  All weekend at the event security kept making people in the front sit down, not get too crowded, and clear the aisles. Basically all the stuff you would expect security to do, but it was a folk festival not punk music where kids are trying to release the rage by punching each other in the face, so everybody was pretty chill and just wanted to get a little closer to the music.  Anyway, show after show the guards sent people away, and then during Glen's act he stopped mid-song, publicly humiliated the security guards and pleaded that people stay up front and keep jamming.  Who knows if they'll get invited back, but they won over a couple thousand fans.



Enjoy, I'd love to hear your SOTD

"Boots of Spanish Leather" by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American Icon.  The way that his music and his message inspires musicians and music fans to this day is incredible.  I remember a few years ago when I saw Dylan at the New American Music Union Festival in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2008.  That night we watched up and coming fads like Gnarls Barkley, we saw impressive talent and showmanship as Jack White led the Raconteurs, and we watched Bob Dylan, the legend, close out the evening.  The fact that the headliner for the "New" American Music Union was a man who began his music career five decades earlier is impressive.

I would have called myself a big Dylan fan for years, but the reality is that I knew a few of his biggest songs and besides that I was all talk.  It wasn't until I saw a band of friends, "Call of the Mild" (made up of Christian, Bacon, and Amy and Nate Ny) play the song "Boots of Spanish Leather" that I really got into Dylan.  I remember after their show going out and buying "The Times They are a Changin'"  and really appreciating his songs. 



His lyrics are genius, his message is powerful, his guitar playing moves along, his voice is a trademark, and his music is timeless.

This is a wonderfully written song about a complicated world, I hope you enjoy.

"Sideways" by Citizen Cope

 "Sideways" by Citizen Cope is a jam.  The bluesy guitar riffs that are almost more pronounced than the smooth melancholy vocals from Cope are incredible, the beat keeps your head moving, and the lyrics stick in your head long after the song ends.

I don't know much about Citizen Cope, but his music is mellow and deep. He's an east coast guy that grew up in DC and is now in Brooklyn making music.  His real name is Clarence Greenwood, which is hard to believe because he sounds so cool. It's hard for me to describe what kind of music he is playing.  When I looked him up on Wikipedia (the source of all truth) to see how they categorized him, they associated him with Outkast and Ray Lamontagne, two styles of music that couldn't be much further apart.  He has a little hip hop flavor in the music, and definitely in his style, but lays it down with his acoustic guitar.

Enjoy, and have a great night.

I'm working on embedding the videos right on here, but until then, check it out here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCQX2Z4Er6g&feature=related

"Winter Winds" by Mumford and Sons

Right now I am sitting in my living room with my friend Steve.  I didn't really listen to a lot of music, and right now Steve is playing some good stuff like "Murder in the City" by the Avett Brothers and "The Freshman" by the Verve Pipe.  One of the songs we talked about a little earlier tonight was "Winter Winds" by Mumford and Sons, and that is the Song of The Day.

If you don't know Mumford and Sons, they are a band from the UK, and have recently been gaining some steam in the US.  They have performed on Letterman, and are on the 105.9 from time to time (sometime that is a little bit discouraging, but I am hopeful that they won't be sell-outs).  The band has a few songs that have some pretty intense lyrics. 

My favorite couple lines from this song are...
 "And if your strife strikes at your sleep
Remember spring swaps snow for leaves
You'll be happy and wholesome again
When the city clears and sun ascends"

 I saw Mumford and Sons play a show in Cleveland this past year with some friends and I can promise you that the energy of their sound on studio tracks is just as powerful and just as tight when they perform live.  This is a band that has a lot going for them right now, not the least of which is being SOTD.

Check out the youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KCg_QEHtkY

Have a good night. 

"Be Set Free" by Langhorne Slim

Something about the sun is encouraging.  Days like yesterday where the sun never quite makes it out of the clouds and it looks like it might rain all day can be a little gloomy or depressing.  Today is not like that at all.  As I look out the beautiful view from my living room, and get ready to quit typing and go walk my dog, I realized how freeing and life giving it is to be in the light.  In that moment I started thinking about a good song to listen to while I go for a walk and remembered "Be Set Free" by Langhorne Slim.  The line that popped in to my head was, "When the light is on your side, love reveals itself to thee." 

Langhorne Slim is a folk artist that comes from the northern suburbs of Philadelphia.  He has music releases dating back to 1999, but his popularity has come in recent years as part of the neo-folk Americana sound that is big right now. Langhorne reminds me a lot of Cat Stevens in the sound of his voice and in the lyrics that show a searching for something greater in life.  Today is a good day to listen to Langhorne Slim.  They have a lot of depth in their lyrics, and at the same time when you watch them play it is clear that these are fun loving goofy guys.

You can see a live version of just Langhorne playing "Be Set Free" here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8JoaAPzOac

What is your song of the day?

"Hold You in My Arms " by Ray Lamontagne

One day when Ray Lamontagne woke up to get ready for his job at a shoe factory in Maine he heard the Stephen Stills song "Treetop Flyer," and it changed his life.  The song inspired Ray to quit his job at the shoe factory and pursue a life as a singer-songwriter. Over the last 11 years Ray has been touring and released "Trouble" his first album with RCA in 2004.  Since a SOTD changed Ray's life, I think he is a perfect artist to kick off this SOTD blog.

Today is a good day for a song from Ray Lamontagne.  When I think about his music I think about a road trip that I took to Maine a few years ago with my friend Barry.  I remember the little morning chill in the air coming off the ocean up in Maine that I felt this morning when I walked out of my house.  I remember how when we were up there in late August the signs of fall were starting to show like they are here now.  As I listened to the first few strums of the guitar in "Hold You in My Arms" off of "Trouble" I knew it was just the right song for today.  Ray's sad soulful singing goes just right with an overcast morning.

Enjoy this live version...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziUsdu1vZtE

SOTD

I like reading blogs sometimes. I have spent a lot of time thinking about blogging, but I never really knew what to talk about so I never started one.  I dont really want people to know everything on my mind because that's personal.  I dont think I have great pearls of wisdom to impart to people. I dont think I say or think a lot of things on a given day that would really keep peoples attention to keep reading my blog.

I do however like good music, and I love sharing good music with good people. So I hope that you enjoy this blog, and that you add a lot about songs that are meaningful to you.