This morning I found a music video (via Matthew Paul Turners web site) and I’m hooked.

Walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet
Toward home, a land that I’ve never seen
I am changing: less and less asleep
Made of different stuff than when I began
And I have sensed it all along
Fast approaching is the day

When the world has fallen out from under me
I’ll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I’ll be found in you

Brooke Fraser. No she’s not singing about Obama there.

I just had to find more music. I found her web site and discovered that Brooke Fraser is a “singer-songwriter-person” who makes “music that sounds like a pop marshmallow has dropped into a folk hot chocolate and become a warm, spicy chocolatey broth.”. Sweet, folk hot chocolate. Her musical influences range from soulful crooners Marvin Gaye and James Taylor to new millennium artists including John Mayer and India Arie. More sweetness. I downloaded the “Albertine” single free from her web site, and from there headed to iTunes, where I discovered more from the recent “Editor’s Music Choice”. I grabbed a copy of What To Do With Daylight as well as Albertine and have been listening, soothingly happy, all day. Check her out.

Just recently I was forced to abandon my usual “New Music Tuesday” shopping spree on iTunes and jump over to AmazonMP3 to pick up the new Marc Broussard CD and the new Jon McLaughlin CD. (I love the new song… “Beating My Heart”. Check out the video here) I know I may have missed out on a couple of exclusive tracks from iTunes, but there’s no reason to not get a regular old MP3 anymore.

there are times every now and then 

i forget why im breathing out 

and why im breathing in 

and i get so sick with the little things 

i cant relax when it’s happening 

to know what it means 

it means 

(bridge) 

this whole world will take me down 

without you standing by my side 

my side 

youre holding onto me 

youre making everything inside 

come alive 

(chorus) 

and then i open my eyes 

and i know youre beating my heart 

beating my heart 

look at the sky 

i know youre beating my heart 

beating my heart 

i go extra miles to show 

that you are the one thing that ive got 

look at the sky 

i know youre beating my heart 

beating my heart 

According to the press release, “The album oozes with over-the-top illustrations, charging out of the gate with funky rhythms, percolating club grooves, undeniably infectious hooks and instantaneous sing-a-longs. Imagine an inventive evolution of the band’s eye-opening ‘Business Up Front, Party In The Back‘ blended with Prince getting down at a Daft Punk concert where Michael Jackson busts out the moonwalk in the center of the dance floor.”

Musician Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughter killed in accident

“I was trying to give my little girls a bath and rushing and hurrying through it,” Chapman told The Press in an interview last fall. “And I got convicted over how much I rush through moments trying to get to the next one, and God telling me to stop and take the moments as he gives then, and see what he’s trying to teach me.”

OK. So I really bought this CD last week, but I haven’t stopped listening to it since. I caught them on an episode of “Front Row Live” one night and TIVO’d for a second viewing. I loved the sound and the next day, I bought the CD. I love these guys, even though I can’t get the song “MySpace Girl” out of my head, go check ‘em out.

Just bought the Josh Wilson CD on iTunes. So far I love it. He has the same kind of pop-rock sound as Dave Barnes, and the same great songwriting, plus great musicianship too. Josh plays every instrument on the songs “3 Minute Song” and “Savior Please” except for drums. He fiddles with acoustic, baritone and electric guitars as well as banjo, mandolin, piano, and keys (which provide the orchestral sounds present on the album). While guitar and piano are his primary instruments, Josh also enjoys the banjitar, which is a banjo with guitar styling, “It’s a neat instrument and it’s kind of a cheat on the banjo.” Sweet!

I’ve been enjoying “3 Minute Song” which compares singing about God’s greatness to “Trying To Fit The Ocean In A Cup” and the rest of the CD doesn’t disappoint. Now I’m trying to restrain from tracking down his two independent projects—a full-length album, Dragonfly (2004), and an EP, Shake the Shadow (2006).

I tried to write a song 
And keep it 3 minutes long 
Get in, get out, nobody gets hurt 
And I tried a thousand times 
To fit God between the lines 
But I’m finding out that doesn’t really work

I just don’t have the words to say 
Cause words only get in my way

I must apologize, I have the hardest time 
Finding something to define a God that I can’t define 
And even if I could, it would take way too long 
If all I’ve got is a 3 minute song

I’ve got a hundred metaphors 
And if I had a million more 
I could never ever seem to sum this up 
Besides, how can some melody 
Communicate eternity 
It’s like trying to fit the ocean in a cup

I’ll never find the words to say 
Cause words only get in my way

I would like to dumb this down to 3 chords or maybe 4 
But I’ve tried and I can’t and I won’t cause there will always be more

So I apologize 
I can’t seem to get it right

I also like the humorous tune “Dear Money,” which talks about a love/hate relationship with cash.

Check out this video of him playing “Amazing Grace”

Lawmakers eying taxation on digital downloads

Incredible… in less than 5 years.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/04/03itunes.html

This morning as I began to switch from streaming radio channel to streaming radio channel in iTunes, I remembered it was “New Music Tuesday”! I have been pretty good lately at controlling my iTunes purchases, but the new Dave Barnes CD, Me+You+The World was a surprise to me, so I went ahead and did the old “click-buy”.

This CD is awesome! I listened to it at least 3 or 4 times today and it hasn’t got old yet. There are a few songs that sound a bit like his previous two albums Brother, Bring the Sun, and Chasing Mississippi, but when you love them too, it’s really not a problem. My favorites so far are the current single “Until You”, “Carry Me Through”, and  “Good World, Gone Bad”.

“What does it take to change her mind, just one more someone left behind.
It’s a good world, gone real bad, and only love can bring it back.”

Check out out this video… and buy the CD.