They say the best is for the best...

It's been a rough couple of days just in terms of time management. I feel like I haven't really sat down since Friday. Tonight while I was wrapping up gifts I was listening to my current favorite holiday album, John Fahey's New Possibility. It's a steel guitar instrumental Christmas album for all your old-fashioned cowboy holiday needs. I've uploaded the whole album mp3 for your enjoyment. Love you guys. ♥

John Fahey's New Possibility
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This is the holiday card request post. I know a lot of people don't do cards anymore for environmental reasons, but I think getting mail is one of the best things about this time of the year, so I remain committed. :) You know the drill. If you want holiday greetings you are welcome to PM me, or drop a comment with your mailing address (comments are, of course, screened). No reciprocity required; I like to use these cards as a way to play "catch-up" with those of you I don't talk to often. :)

eta: additionally, if you'd rather not have your address anywhere near LJ but would still like a holiday card, I can be reached at my gmail account: debsbasement [at] gmail [dot] com.

Wow, it's almost the end of the month already. How did that happen?

Today my father got into a car accident while driving my car. No one was hurt, thank god, but Sam's front fender and left headlight are all smashed to hell. My father didn't even want me to look at it and took it straight down to the bodyshop. Now we have a fugly rental that smells like dead hooker. Woe. :(

A couple of home-town heroes tonight. The first is Casey Hurt, a gentleman I met waaaaaay back in junior high. He showed up my 8th grade year and kind of infiltrated our little bus group (go Bus 12!). Anyway, sang with him in choir in high school before he took off for parts unknown, reappearing a few years later back in Corvallis. He's a singer-songwriter along the lines of...uh, any guy you've heard with a guitar in the last ten years. If you know me you'll know why it pains me to make this comparison, but if you like Mason Jennings or Jason Manns you'll like Casey. He's got a beautiful, sweet voice and he's really passionate about his music. Both of these songs are from his most recent release Letters from a Friend (available on iTunes)/plug. I believe his wife Lauren is doing backing vocals on "Get Back to Ya."

"Get Back to Ya"
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"Seven Seas"
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I've talked about Tatiana Hargreaves before. I met Tatiana at a house concert her folks hosted two years ago, when she was already playing fiddle with the likes of Bruce Molsky (who performs with her on "Grub Springs"), Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz. She's fourteen now and released her first album earlier this year. Her brother, Alex Hargreaves, also plays and joins her on "Shaking Down the Acorns." Last year Tatiana became the youngest ever fiddle player to win the Championship Division of the Oregon Oldtime Fiddlers Contest. She has an amazing gift and I'm eager to see where she follows it.

"Grub Springs"
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"Shaking Down the Acorns"
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It just wouldn't be the October song a day if I didn't share some Josh Ritter. If you don't already know the depth of my love for Mr. Ritter (even during times like these when he refuses to reward it himself, thus rendering me an embittered and sad shell of my former self), then you haven't been here that long. ;) I'm gonna share two tonight; the first is one of my favorite love songs (by any artist). It's from his first, self-titled album, which until a couple of years ago was more difficult to find. The poetry of this song never fails to make me feel at home.

"Potter's Wheel"
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This second is from the Snow is Gone! ep that friend and fellow Josh Enthusiast dissonant_dream sent to me for Christmas (or my birthday....) last year. It's a duet with Sarah Harmer, another artist whom I've loved for quite awhile now. I think their voices and styles and well suited to one another and I'd love to see them collaborate more in the future.

"Long May You Run"
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The first Mountain Goats CD I owned was The Sunset Tree, and I really love that album a lot, but the 2002 album All Hail West Texas is my favorite. It's the epitome of lo-fi and the dusty, muffled sound of it combined with the sharp stories within the songs makes the whole thing run like a film reel. This song chokes me up.

"Riches & Wonders"
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In other news, I'm finally watching Band of Brothers.

I associate 80's music with Saturday nights, probably because one of the local radio stations used to do an 80's mix that night. Anyway, Roxy Music is one of my favorite "guilty pleasure" 80's bands. This happens to be my favorite Roxy Music song of the moment.

"Oh Yeah"
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I wanted to do a Lucinda Williams song tonight because I think she's one of the hardest rocking women in the business. Originally I was going to upload something from her most recent album, Little Honey, but instead I decided to go with one of my favorites from her early self-titled album. It's out of print now, which is too bad because it's really solid.

"Changed the Locks"
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Uncle Earl is a band I discovered by accident at work one day. They are a bluegrass/folk group comprised of four women, one of whom is Abigail Washburn, a performer I've been a fan of for quite awhile. This is one of the "prettiest" songs I've heard in a long long time. The melody is perfect.

"Bony on the Isle of Saint Helena"
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I remember trying to get people into the Avett Brothers back in '06 after I heard "Talk on Indolence" for the first time. Everyone looked at me like I was nuts for liking that song. Whatever, that song is awesome. Then Emotionalism hit two years ago and they became NPR/indie column darlings. I love the emotional quality of their music; Seth & Scott have incredibly expressive voices and I defy anyone not to feel while listening to their "folk-punk." In my head I equate them with folks like Old Crow Medicine Show, Johnny Flynn, & Joe Pugg.

This is the title track is off their new album which came out at the end of September.

"I and Love and You"
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