Morning Mood & Music

I am in a strange mood this A.M. ... before dawn I began listening, on a random shuffle loop, to the album that I ran to this morning and it's had me dreaming of getting the heck out of South Carolina. A southerner I most certainly am not. It's disgusting here. Spring is over. No, it's not, not until June 21st, right? HAA!! It's over here. It lasted like 3 or 4 weeks. Whoop-di-freakin'-do. Blah. I don't like that and I know I won't be here forever so I can take some comfort in that fact. Usually my mind wanders back to the northeast where I'm from, where I was born and grew up... but country music sets me in a mood that takes my focus away from New England and New Jersey, makes me think about a roadtrip across this great land -- west. I want to just get in my VW bus, loaded with a ton of great music, and just go. I'll camp everywhere I go, I'll not take a single Interstate highway -- lazy backroads only, windows rolled down, good music on, beautiful scenery... New Mexico, I think, that's where I want to go, to New Mexico's mountains and National Forests, to hike and climb and see bear. That's what just the right country music does to me, makes me want to just go.... on a roadtrip west with no specific destination in mind. Anywhere... so long as I can have my elbow out the window listening to music like that which has me absolutely mesmerized this morning...

Music I'm Listening To, And What I Ran To This Monday Morning...

	Taylor Swift self-titled debut 2006 (2007 deluxe edition)
Tim McGraw Pictures To Burn Teardrops On My Guitar A Place In This World Cold As You The Outside Tied Together With A Smile Stay Beautiful Should've Said No Mary's Song (Oh My My My) Our Song I'm Only Me When I'm With You Invisible A Perfectly Good Heart Taylor's First Phone Call With Tim McGraw

I'm absolutely amazed at the music from this young woman. She recorded this when she was 16 years old, shortly before her 17th birthday. And she doesn't just have an amazing voice, she actually wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on the album. Isn't that a rarity on Nashville? Her songs lean very much towards being love stories but her sound really makes me think Tennessee all the way, a Nashville, radio-friendly, female country artist sound that I really like. Her producers crafted these songs well -- just enough fiddle and banjo and mandolin in a place or two to make sure it's not another pop-sounding country album. Listening to her, to these songs, it's hard to believe that she's from southeast Pennsyl-freakin'-vania. Is she a Philadelphia Phillies fan? For shaaammmmme. Ah well, she sure can sing. She's mature beyond her years and there's no way I'd ever think teenager if I didn't know. One thing I don't like is I almost feel dirty watching her/looking at her album cover. When you have a hit album at 17 are you no longer a kid? It seems at 17 she ceased being a kid and became not just an adult but a sex symbol. That's sick in a way. But that's Nashville, for ya. Supposedly here follow-up album, according to many people, is even better so I'm lookin' forward to it!

Taylor Swift's debut: 320 kbps download @ Zona Musical

free mp3 rapidshare

Taylor's music video for "Tim McGraw"
...watching this almost makes me feel dirty... She's barely 17 years old!