Music 2007 (thus far)

2007 has been an unusual year so far, music-wise. There has been a succession of releases from artists that I have been fans of, in some cases, for many, many years. Norah Jones, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, and Alison Krauss all popped out discs within a few weeks of each other, and thus have consumed the majority of my music-listening time. Of the five, give the gold star to Patty; that's a pretty amazing disc. Sadly, all five of those discs are pretty mellow, which was nice for winter, but I need some peppier music for summer.

Best surprise: Barenaked Ladies: Barenaked Ladies Are Me. A fan of their earlier work, I had kind of written them off a disc or two ago. This one was very good.

New music: She's Spanish, I'm American; Dolorean; Peter Bradley Adams; the 2-disc compilation The Other Side: Songs From East Nashville; Sam and Ruby

Bedtime song of the week: Alejandro Escovedo's cover of "I Wish I Was Your Mother". Set to just an acoustic guitar and a string quartet, this beautiful song has some of either the saddest or creepiest lyrics I've heard in awhile. I can't decide which.

Concert ecstasy : Norah Jones on Thursday, Patty Griffin next Tuesday, both at the Ryman. I'm stocking up my happy place. I don't know what that sentence means.