New Tunes from Wise Hearts
I rehashed the songs of Simon and Garfunkel in high school choir rehearsals, in the dark bedroom of a seventeen-year-old’s bundle of questions and doubt, in the driver’s seat of a Chrysler Belvedere with a smooth steering wheel and windows down and a pleather seat for a girl who acted too big for her britches. Hello darkness my old friend…i am an island….when you’re down and out, when you’re on the street …. slow down, you move too fast…here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know…remember me to one who lives there….your time has come to shine, all your dreams are on their way, see how they shine….
These days, I’ve taken to learning new music, to listening to fresh albums all the way through, to respecting the storytelling, the vision in the order of the tracks. I learn of so many new artists from Jefferson Public Radio’s Open Air show, one-of-a-kind live radio programming that runs for six hours Monday through Friday with DJ Dave in the morning and DJ Danielle in the afternoon. More than music mixers, these two are artists in their own right, finding riffs and themes and segues and undercurrents that move from song to song in sets that glide like good medicine into my listening spirit. My guess is that some listeners don’t notice. You have to KNOW there will be a narrative in the sets to be keen to it. My ears perk up, paying attention to verse, chorus, bridge, that, like all good therapy, sends the self back to the big mirror of surround sound that says I Know You. You and Me, we’re not so different. Let’s sway. Let’s croon. Let’s DANCE!
No disrespect to Simon and Garfunkel, but let’s make room for new classics in our heads. Having old school radio play songs on the turntable can only take you backward. Tackle a new tune, then head for the complete album. Suggestions of late: Eilen Jewell/Get Behind the Wheel, Pokey LaFarge/Rhumba Country, The Secret Sisters/Mind, Man, Medicine, Dylan LeBlanc/Coyote, Manu Chao /Viva Tu, Tyler Ramsey/New Lost Ages…and how about the new drop by Coldplay. Moon Music will raise you UP! Track 6 is titled with the emoji of a rainbow and features the voice of Maya Angelou. Incredible.
