Kacey Musgraves

So Kacey Musgraves won a Grammy this year and she deserved it (I think). Her album Same Trailer Different Park is very well written and each song fits in with the album. I think that this album reveals a lot about Kacey Musgraves as a person. It shows her personal beliefs and on spotify there's a commentary album for this album and it's really interesting to listen to her talk about it and it's really prevalent that she invested a lot in this album. I also think that this isn't your everyday country music. It talks about a lot of things that are usually not present in pop country music like homosexuality.

Grammys

I really enjoy watching the Grammys but I do agree that they aren't very representative of outstanding artists. I also believe that the Grammy's are a popularity contest. All of the artists on 96.7 or 102.3 are basically guaranteed a nomination if not a grammy. Their record company should basically win the grammy because of how much money and effort they put in to selling albums/singles/the artist's name. This year's performances were interesting. I always am surprised of the combinations that they put together. This year I really liked Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar's mashup maybe because it was surprising but I think they took a very creative approach to it. I think it was amazing what Macklemore did during his song and I think it sent a very powerful message. I also was really impressed with Pink's performance, she is really talented. I did not enjoy Katy Perry's performance it kind of made a tad uncomfortable. The Grammy's were overwhelmingly about the performances and not as much about awarding and thanking artists. I think that there are a lot of other bands and singers that should at least be nominated that not a lot of people know about, like the Head and the Heart for example. (They're a little well known but not as popular on the radio)

Aer

My brother showed me this band and we've been following their music for awhile now. They just released a new album and it's pretty good. Aer isn't one of those bands where their whole album is amazing in my opinion. They will probably have 3 good songs per album. 2 of their good songs on this album were released as singles previous to the album. But I really love their voice and style of their music because it's not hardcore rap. I like it because their voice is very unique and it has a lot of instruments that work together! I think my favorite album is The Brightside just because it was the first album that got me hooked. A good one on there is Floats the Boat. Their most recent single that I like is Says She Loves Me!

Punch Brothers

LOVE the Punch Brothers. I've just started to get into them and it was such a coincidence that you mentioned them in class because I was thinking about writing a blog post on them. They remind me of Needtobreathe except with a clearer voice. I might be wrong but I think I hear a banjo or something that sounds like a banjo and I am really enjoying that sound. It provides a nice crisp contrast to the other softer instruments in the group. I think my favorite right now is This Girl but that is bound to change in the next few weeks, I can never make up my mind on these things.

Grace Potter

Everyone has heard her hit Paris and Stars and don't get me wrong I love listening to the recorded album but what I recently discovered that I like even more is her acoustic "live" ones! They are easier to listen to in my opinion because there's not as much going on. My favorite song right now of hers is Low Road. She does a recording of this song stripped down as she walks on the street and it is wonderful! I interpreted this song to mean that it is the journey that is important not the destination (super cheesy but I like it).

My favorite part of this video is 3:07 when she hits this really high note and her guitar player kind of looks at her and smiles. Another one of my favorites is Big White Gate, which is about her grandmother!

Your album

Your album is amazing!! Listening to it the whole way through for the second time I heard different things than I did the first time I heard it! My favorite song was Talk (if that's what it's called I don't remember). But I noticed the importance of song order on an album and never really thought about the thought that goes into the order of the album until I took your class. I also really like the until I feel better one that you played live for us in class. Loved the lyrics.

Records

Over winter break my friend and I bought a record player! Well first we went to Antones records bc we passed by it and needed to kill some time. We went in and discovered so many cool record covers of a lot of old bands. Right after we convince ourselves that we NEEDED a record player. We took the record player back to my house and sat in my garage and listened to the Carpenter by the Avett Brothers and Babel by Mumford and Sons. After we finished those I dug up my dad's records and listened to a bunch more and before we knew it it was past out curfew!! I absolutely loved watching the record spin and play the music! It's a completely different sound I totally agree with you! It's kind of like books. I really like having something in my hands to physically look at instead of it being electronic.