So I started the day today by checking the FAR Chart for new musicians and came across the name Colin Spring. His new album is titled Highballs for the Lowbrow and that certainly sounded promising. So I went to Rhapsody and they didn’t have the current release so I listened to his 2005 release How I Came To Cry These Tears Of Cool (2005). It was a good listen with some songs with a political bent like “Joe McCarthy Is Sweeping Off His Grave” and several others with great titles like “Give My Regrets To Broadway”, “Let’s Burn the Guitars” and “Life Out on the Fringe”. So after listening to most of the album I went to Amazon and bought the new album and gave it a listen. Overall the sound is a little more rock than I usually listen to but overall the vocals and lyrics are good, but it will take a few more listens to judge overall. Here’s some info from Colin’s website about him and his music:
Colin Spring is an Oregon based singer/songwriter who plays music influenced by folk, rock, and Americana. He has just finished his fifth album, Highballs For The Lowbrow. It was recorded partly at home and partly at the Recovery Room in Seattle with Engineer/Producer Graig Markel over the last two years.
Colin was finalist at the prestigious Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest at the Sisters Folk Festival and has opened for Americana icon and Juno Winner Fred Eaglesmith several times (and has twice MC’d Fred’s annual Southern Picnic in Ontario, Canada).
After listening to Colin I switched to some bluegrass and listened to the album Lonely Street by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. Doyle Lawson is one of those artist who I’ve never gotten around to listening to, I heard his music here and there but have never sought it out. I watched a couple of his videos on CMT Wide Open Country and enjoyed them so I gave this album a listen and enjoyed it. There was some great picking and the vocals were good too. I will have to check out some more of his work! I really liked the opening track “Monroe’s Mandolin”
I ended the day by turning on the IPOD and listening to a mix of bluegrass and since I have a lot more on the IPOD then I had on the Sansa I heard some stuff that I hadn’t heard for a while. One of the bands was Northern Lights and  their album Another Sleepless Night. I really like this album and the band. Going to their website now I see that they have officially closed up shop after 30 plus years of music making! But I will have to go and check out some of their other albums!
Here’s Northern Lights with “Lonesome Road Blues” from their final performance in March of this year!