passing it on...






i'm a music junkie. i have music playing all the time - at home, in the car, out in the yard, and so on. i connect to music in a very real, very basic way. it moves me. different styles and artists are right for specific moods or occasions; music elicits emotional reactions and triggers memories in a way i can't explain. i enjoy a limitless variety of genres, and my reasonably extensive collection includes goodies from aerosmith to putamayo, garth brooks to weezer, tracy chapman to pearl jam, even richard marx and the bangles. (hey, everyone's entitled to a little guilty pleasure, right?) i have some albums i might only dig out once or twice a year, and others i might play obsessively for weeks at a time. sometimes i own ten (or more?) albums by the same artist, and sometimes one is all i need.

and although my musical tastes are varied and eclectic, my the core of my collection and the stuff that i will always keep coming back to lies primarily in the folk singer-songwriter realm. there's something in that style of music that touches my heart in a way nothing else does. there's a beautiful truth in setting one's stories against the simple backdrop of folky strumming. sitting in a coffee shop, hearing one dude (or dudette) and his (or her) guitar, can often enthrall me more completely than a big-time arena show.

and to get down to the point of all this rambling, i want to mention one of my most recent dude-and-his-guitar moments. this spring i had the opportunity to hear chris o'brien performing live in portland. i love discovering someone new - and hearing them live is always a great chance to really experience what they have to offer. chris, a boston-area musician, totally blew me away. his voice is pure and his songs all have the kind of clarity and beauty that makes them worth listening to again and again. i felt like i'd really stumbled upon something great that night. i immediately got his album, a 2007 release entitled "lighthouse," and played the hell out of it over the summer. i saw him play again a few weeks ago and it was just as enjoyable hearing him play alone on stage as it had been listening to the full-band tracks. kicking back with a good cup of coffee, watching the cold rain falling, and listening to a display of such talent and passion - its an incredible way to spend an evening.

since i know how much i value a good new-artist suggestion, i feel obligated to pass along my own recommendation for chris o'brien. there's so much crap out on the airwaves, and an artist like chris seems so much more deserving. go give his music a listen. if you like what you hear, order the cd or buy some downloads. and most importantly, pass the good word along to your own friends.

enter your email address in the form above to join chris o'brien's mailing list. you'll want to know when he's coming to a venue near you!