With This Kind of Taste It Should Have Been Called iTunZ

What kind of music do you listen to? This is a question I hear a lot. Well, not really anymore, but it sounds more impressive if I start with something that sounds cool. The answer to this question is conditional on the moment in life that it is asked (at least to me). If you asked when I was a toddler, it would have been Sesame Street and Lawrence Welk; at 14...Weird Al Yankovic. While I still hold a soft spot for those performers ("Monster in the Mirror" might be one of the greatest songs ever recorded) they aren't currently at the top of my iTunes playlists. Anyway, that was sort of a long-winded introduction to a blog post that identifies some of the music that currently plays in my head.

24hr Rhythm (DJ Topcat)
This is near the top of my most recently played songs. Mashing up the sweet stylings of Eazy E. (24 Hours to Live) with the illustrious Man in Black (Get Rhythm) makes for a gem. I also really groove on Folsom Prison Ganstaz. Topcat has also combined Jay-Z/Led Zepplin and Rhianna/Alice in Chains. Check out his stuff at http://sites.google.com/site/djtopcat/

The All-Girl, All-Gospel Quartet (The Statler Brothers)
This is a beautiful song. The Statler Brothers might be the best storytellers of all-time. (Note the play on "all"). The harmonies alone put this song on my list.

Oh Sherrie (Steve Perry)

You should've been gone
Knowing how I made you feel
And I should've been gone
After all your words of steel

Need I say more?

I Remember You (Queens of Dogtown)
Seriously. What is cooler than a Skid Row cover you ask? A Skid Row cover by Lenny Kravitz's daughter's (Zoë Kravitz) band. Even better, they were the band that Hank Moody's daughter forms in Californication.

Too Country (Bill Anderson, Brad Paisley & Chuck Cannon)
Whisperin' Bill Anderson is a legend. Brad Paisley married Kimberly Williams (Father of the Bride). Plus he is a pretty darned good singer. His duet with Alison Krauss, Whiskey Lullaby, may be one of the most haunting, depressing songs out there. Chuck Cannon is better known for his songwriting, but on this tune he whales.

Right Here Waiting (Richard Marx)

I bought the Stories to Tell album on a lark earlier this summer. What a great buy! Richard Marx acoustic. All of his classics. Try not singing along. It's impossible. Hazard, Angelia, Hold on to the Nights, Should've Known Better, Endless Summer Nights,...man, Richard Marx is 'da bomb.