Welcome

I've been thinking about blogging on music for some time. I think because musical tastes differ so widely, people (at least most of my friends) don't discuss music very deeply. (Or maybe they just think MY taste in music is weird...) Anyway, I'm hoping people from all over will chime in and chat about the music and artists that I mention here.

If you found this blog, it's probably because your Internet search for some artist or song pointed you here. Browse around the posts and maybe you'll find something similar to what you were looking for, and find something intriguing to search out and try.

I'm not an expert on music or its history, though there are a few areas I've researched a bit. So what's here is mostly my impressions to what I have listened to over the years, and what I've learned about the artists by reading liner notes, listening to interviews, etc. If you have better information about something I write about, please feel free to share it here!

And I'm not much of a musician. I played guitar quite a long time ago, but not much for other people - mostly for my own enjoyment and curiosity. I heard great guitarists and I wanted to do that! After playing Rock Band a few times with my kids, I'm thinking maybe I'll pick it up again... and maybe someday I'll learn to play the piano that we own.

So what kinds of music will I talk about? Well, I grew up listening to 60's and 70's rock and roll, so that's what I like most. But looking deeper into rock takes one to the blues, and many years ago I fell in love with blues, and learned to play some on the guitar. So we'll talk about that... though a white computer guy from California doesn't bring much cred to the discussion.

Looking into old blues inevitably led me to Robert Johnson. The movie "Crossroads" about Johnson led me to Ry Cooder, who played guitar on the soundtrack. And a "world music" album by Ry introduced me to the fantastic Malian artist Ali Farka Toure. So I have also developed an interest in east African music. Funny where music takes us... one of the things I want to explore in future posts is these connections between artists and genres.

The best rock and roll is fast and hard. I got interested in the Brian Setzer Orchestra pretty early in its life, and BSO has remained a favorite, though I haven't really gotten into the whole rockabilly thing. I'm more interested in how Brian backs up rock with the orchestra... and punches up Big Band music with his electric guitar.