Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1) Purple Rain – performed by Dolly Parton
As a Minnesota boy, I consider Prince to be royalty and his music to be sacrosanct. any have covered him. Most have been awful. So it was with cringing, mildly nauseous trepidation that I discovered Dolly Parton had covered Purple Rain. Yes, I know Dolly can do no wrong and if given the chance most of America would vote her into the white house. But this is PRINCE we’re talking about. She is a country queen–the country queen. She is a brilliant and prolific songwriter. She is an altruist par excellence and her theme park is the best in the country. But this is PRINCE we’re talking about. As you will hear, though, within the first few bars of the song Dolly lays all concerns to rest. (Really, who was I to doubt her?) Her cover of this iconic song is immaculate.
2) Cherokee Pioneer by Pitney Meyer
I grew up with Bluegrass Saturday Mornings, a on hour radio program (from a local college station I believe) in Minneapolis, being a regular soundtrack in our house or car on the way to little league games. And I came to love it. It is a music with roots and soul and intricacy and harmony. It feels like history. And it’s a bit niche, at least in much of the country. With the rise of Americana music in recent years, bluegrass seems to be making a comeback. (Or maybe we shouldn’t call it a comeback; it’s been here for years.) I have the pleasure of knowing one of the rising, excellent bluegrass groups, Pitney Meyer, through church. Mo Pitney and Johnny Meyer (and their excellent bandmates) are fantastic songwriters, pickers, and singers. They revise old tunes and create new ones in the legacy of the old. And on top of this, they are both wonderful, godly, faithful men. Their new album, Cherokee Pioneer, recently released and it is fantastic. Check it out. And if you live in the mid south, be sure to hit up one of their shows.
3) Songs I Heard by Harry Connick Jr.
Harry Connick Jr. was the first jazz musician I loved, and I have been a fan since hearing those first notes when I was in middle school. He has numerous wonderful albums, but one of my favorites is Songs I Heard. In it, he reimagines songs that almost all of you would know from famous musicals–Sounds of Music, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, etc.–that shaped his childhood. He brings his big band flair and soulful jazz sensibilities to songs you associate with Julie Andrews, the Von Trapps, little orphan Annie, or Eliza Doolittle. And it is magnificently fun. Connick is simply a master at respecting the essence of beloved songs, but introducing them in a whole new style. I bought this album on cd years ago and it has been in regular rotation since. My kids have grown up on it, and I intend to get old enjoying it.
