Recently the latest Counting Crows album was released, and after listening to it off and on for a week or so, I realized it had been way too long since I’d listened to August and
Everything After, my favorite CC album. Well, as you might guess, I’ve listened to nothing but this album for the past few days and as I pondered what musical moment I wanted to share with you on the first of our Thursday musical show-and-tell, this decision was a no-brainer. For the past fifteen years, the Counting Crows have been one of my favorite bands for so many reasons… Adam Duritz’s passionate voice, lyrics that make you pause and ponder, and those piano ballads. Yeah, I was only 12 years-old when their first single Mr. Jones climbed its way to #2 on the Billboard charts, but even at that age, there was something special and gripping about this album. To this day, it stands as one of my favorite albums of my generation, and after selling 7 million copies, I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. So from beginning to end, here it is. If you love it as much as I hope you will, go check out your local used record store. I’m sure it’ll be waiting for you there.

Round Here: “Step out the front door like a ghost. Into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white.”

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Omaha: “I think you’d better turn your ticket in and get your money back at the door.”

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Mr. Jones: “Believe in me because I don’t believe in anything. And I want to be someone to believe.”

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I don’t know about where you live but Saturdays at Walmart in Flagstaff are never a smart plan. However, this past weekend I found myself defying good sense and wandering through the Walmart music section to see if there might be something that would quench my never-ending thirst for new music. As I was thumbing through the haphazardly sorted cds I watched a teenager hand his friend a cd and emphatically say, “Listen to this. This was before all music sucked.” With a declaration like his, who could I not look to see what musical gem he was passing along. What I say was definitely not what I expected and I’m not sure what I found more interesting about this exchange… the grungy teenager who at 13 years-old could truly decipher what good music was or the fact the cd he passed on was Green Day’s Dookie from 1994. Despite the gut reaction to become my mother and lecture them about what good music truly was, I shook my head and kept digging.

That scene has played over and over again in my head for the past few days and I haven’t been able to shake the sorrow his view of music has left on my soul. I’m not going to debate the merit of Dookie or any of Green Day’s albums because my issue isn’t with this kid’s recommendation but what he said before he handed his friend the cd, “..before all music sucked.” Sure, we’re in a time without the revolutionary musicians like The Beatles, Elvis, Ray Charles, Aretha, and so many more we’ve all grown to idolize, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any good music now. You just have to know where to look and what you enjoy. As long as there are humans with an innate need to be creative and express themselves, music will always prevail not as chaotic noise but purposeful sound.

So what’s your criteria for good music? Is it found on MTV or Top40 radio? Are you drawn toward lyrics, the melody, the beat, or a particular instrument? No matter who you are music should matter in a deeply personal way. Whether it evokes a memory, emotion, or thought you can’t quite say yourself, music longs to captivate you unlike any other medium. It begs for you to hum, sing-a-long, think, and feel. It reaches out and ties you to the rest of world because with every note and phrase you know someone else has at one time said or heard those exact, same words.

I’ve been claiming around these parts that music is my world and I couldn’t survive without my iPod, but haven’t regularly invited you into my musical world. A world strongly influenced by my mom playing the piano and singing to me and my dad sitting on his bed and sharing his old albums with me. It was the passion in their eyes and voices that caught my attention at first… that made me listen and search for who I was within those records and rhythms. Because I believe the best way to discover or even rediscover music is to pass it around, I’m going to share with you what has caught my musical attention each week on Thursday. So whether it’s a song, artist, album or playlist, take a moment to enjoy it. Good music is all around… you just have to stop and listen.