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Today I got a fantastic gift in the mail. My friend Kim, who to this point I’ve only known online but plan to meet soon for our piligrimage to Baton Rouge for a gathering of friends, sent me a mixed CD of her favorites. I’d been wanting to…well, for how long? Wanted to hear Ben Harper’s music for probably years. A discussion that mentioned him was the impetus for the idea since she’s been listening to him lately. In the midst of a move over the holidays she was going far and above anything I expected to not only sit down and mix this, but to actually get it in the mail!
The whole disc is great. Better than great…dance-in-the-kitchen music-with-a-goofy-grin kind of music. How often does one find a music kindred spirit? If you have taste like me, not often. Michael, Anna, Rick…a few more. And of course, David, my Best Friend and the kindred spirit that touches every corner and category and circle of my little life. When the discovery comes and the sound resonates, it’s a rare thing indeed.
The best thing about this mix: it’s quirky and different and yet fits me like a glove. Some of the artists I’ve never heard of..Billy Joe Shaver, Gillian Welch (she sounds alot like Mindy Smith with more raw edge), Southern Culture on the Skids…there’s also lots I do know and am happy to have a recording of: the weepy beauty of Dolly Parton and Emmy Rossum, “Come On Eilleen” by Dixie’s Midnight Runner, Jewel, Queen.

There’s a list of music that has had enough influence and pure time in my life to make it on “the soundtrack of my years”. Ben Harper’s music is going to make that list. Somehow with every review I’d read, every occassional pop into celebrity news that he made, I knew that his was music worth my investigation. This CD has two of his songs on it. “Steal My Kisses” is a FUN, sing-it-with-the-windows-down kind of beat that conjures up images of afternoon sunshowers, flowered dresses, and tossled hair. “Waiting on an Angel” is soft with a lazy edge, that reminds me of sleepy-sunshine, under a tree with the one who makes me feel beautiful, fingers barely touching and wine glasses empty.

I went looking for some info on Ben…turns out one of his favorite things is Coldplay. You can hear it in the understated truth of his lyrics. In a year when one of my bhags (big hairy audacious goals) was to learn to play the guitar, Ben’s sounds like the kind I want to play.

“So speak kind to a stranger, ’cause you’ll never know. It just might be an angel, knockin’ at your door. And I”m waiting for an angel and I know it won’t be long, to find myself in a resting place, in my angel’s arms.”

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