Little petite female, a banjo, the voice of an angel...

Please allow me to introduce you to one of the biggest musical surprises of late. Abigail Washburn can play the banjo. She can also sing like an angel. Her new album is called Song of the Traveling Daughter. Produced by a man whose name should be synonymous with the banjo, Bela Fleck. This album is an aural treat.

Read her biography and a review of the CD at Allmusic.com: Abigail Washburn was busy during the first half of 2005, laying down tracks for her first solo album on Nettwerk and serving as a member of Uncle Earl on Rounder. Song of the Traveling Daughter is an apt title for the type of folk music Washburn makes: acoustic, easygoing, and tuneful. Songs like "Sometimes" and "Rockabye Dixie" give the impression of being traditional, and Washburn's simple, old-style banjo accompaniment deepens this impression. However, these and the other songs on Traveling Daughter are mostly originals, and when they're backed by offbeat arrangements, it's clear that she wasn't born in Appalachia. (Ccntinues...)

And check out those red boots. I must admit, I have a thing for cowgirls and red boots. And anyway, how could you not like the banjo?

You can call him Ray, or you can...

I have been meaning to blog about this guy Ray LaMontagne. Great voice, great songs. Reminds me of a lot of guys. But he has a fresh and unique delivery. Imagine if someone with a voice like Kenny Loggins only maybe bluesier was doing really cool, laid back songs like Jack Johnson or Ben Harper. Acoustic guitars with the occasional strings, immediately accessible, familiar but fresh. Give him a try.

In the next few days, I hope to write about a couple of artists that would make very terrific additions to any collection. Hopefully the artist will be new and you will like them as well. Jot me a line or post a comment to tell me what you like or to tell me I am way off the mark.

Car Tunes again...

More reflections on the soundtrack of my return trip from St. George:

Finally listened to the Neil young album Prairie Wind. It is really wonderful. Neil is just a great songwriter. I like it when he plays acoustic guitar. This one will not disappoint. Especially lovely are the songs featuring Emmylou Harris on harmony vocals.

Ask yourself: "How would the voice of Free, Bad Company, and the Firm sound singing the Freddy Mercury songs with Queen?" While at first it seems like a strange fit, the result works very well. It is wonderful to hear these great old songs again and Paul Rodgers brings new life and dimension to the songs. Rodgers' earlier hits "Feel Like Making Love and "All Right Now" are here as well. Brian May's guitar sounds as good as ever. Roger Taylor, the other voice of the mighty Queen, has never sounded better.

Need just an all around great album, perfect for traveling, for a gift, to play in the background or to turn up and play loud as you are burning through the Utah desert at 90 miles an hour? One of my top 2 favorite releases for last year is Jerry Douglas's The Best Kept Secret. Even though Jerry is known primarily for his work with Alison Krauss and Union Station, as well as his session work for practicly any artist featuring a bit of the slide guitar, this ain't no bluegrass album (though there is one fairly traditional bluegrass tune). Alison Krauss is featured on vocals on a great song "Back in Love Again." Immediately recognizable, this version is fresh and funky. John Fogerty turns up for a bluesy swing tune as well. The rest of the album is instrumentals not easily classified but very accessible and enjoyable.

Jerry just gets better and better. If you like the blues, if you like your guitar with an edge, if you like incredible slide, if you like your tunes with a little jazzy influence, or even if you just want something a little different...this CD will satisfy. It may just become one of your favorites as well.

Car Tunes

I think the best part of a long drive is the soundtrack.

Driving down to St. George, I was listening to some classic Love and Rockets. All of my L&R collection was damaged in our flood. The insurance company purchased replacements for me of the things that were still available (and paid me something for what could not). On Monday, UPS delivered a big box to our door with most of the replacements. It was better than Christmas! Many of the great things from the 80s have been updated with additional content. Wonderful. Peter Gabriel's Masterpiece, So was damaged and replaced with the remastered version. Gabriel's remastering is wonderful. It seems to have even greater life and breadth.

I also listened to the new album, Broken Boy Soldiers, from Jack White's side project The Raconteurs. It is great. Classic rock with elements of Led Zeppelin, Marc Bolan's T. Rex. Even some of that great harmonized vocals mixed with fuzzy guitars we heard back in the late seventies with bands like The Eagles and Stealer's Wheel. Pick it up. It did not disappoint me. This record is so accessible. Start with track Six "Level," then go back to number one, "Steady as She Goes," the lead single. Great stuff. It has a familiarity and warmth to it. Listening to it is like sliding on a favorite worn pair of jeans.

Anyone heard of Tele-Atlas? They're mapping our world...

Another Goose Girl...

First, let me apologize. I feel as if I have dropped off the face of the earth. Maybe I have. My flooded basement and the ensuing difficullties of dealing with the insurance company, damage mitigators, electricians, dry-wallers, plumbers, the cable TV company (ask me sometime what "Comcastic" really means), and more, while trying to fit going to work every day, seem to have conspired to keep me from blogging...and I feel like there is so much to say!

So, in any case, I promise to be better. I have many things to write. Unfortunately the things I want to write about may come out more stream of consciousness rather that in any navigable, chronological order. But speaking of things navigable...

I was in beautiful but smoldering St. George, Utah for the Utah Library Association conference the latter part of this week. Met Shannon Hale, Honor Book recipient for her new book The Princess Academy, who also wrote The Goose Girl. Shannon is wonderful. But what I really want to write about are the incredible synchronities that are happening all the time around us:

I'm driving home early Friday morning (I hope to get home before the kids get out of school and Friday is early out day). I'm cruising along the Interstate and come up beside a strange looking van with housings and machinery bulging out of it's sides. A logo says, "Tele Atlas...We're mapping your world." I was intrigued. I'd never heard of them before. It turns out they are this cutting edge navigation, Internet, and wireless company. Here is the short quote from their page: "Tele Atlas delivers the freshest, richest and most accurate digital map data to power the world’s most essential geographic solutions."

The orange logo above is inspired a classic children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, by Selma Lagerlöf, the first Swedish writer and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

From the TeleAtlas page: "First published in 1906, the story follows the adventures of a mischievous 14-year-old who is transformed into a tiny being, transported across the Swedish countryside on the back of a goose, and learns about nature, climate, geography and culture, and the importance of friendship, tolerance and the belief in a good world."

Pretty cool stuff.