Music. According to Kim.

Usually when I do a video spotlight I'll pick one video to highlight, but I'm changing it up a bit. Because here's the thing: it was my love of the music video that first inspired me to start this blog. There are so many great music videos out there with new ones coming out all the time. I don't think I'll ever be able to get to them all. But in an effort to be able to talk about more of them, I've decided that they'll be times when I put the spotlight on a specific artist instead of a single video. Each one of these will include five of their videos. The idea first came about when I determined that my next post would feature The Hound + The Fox. The only problem was that I couldn't pick which video of theirs to talk about. And so a new series, if you'd call it that, was born. There'll still be video spotlights that focus on one video and one video alone, but this'll allow me to get to more of them. Plus I think it's a good way to intro...

In a perfect world, I would have gotten this up while it was still 2016. Alas, the world is not perfect and neither am I. But you know what? That's okay. I still wanted to do this because I wanted to give these acts some love. There are four total and they're all acts that I wrote about in 2016 to surprising success. You never really know how something will be received, especially when writing about someone new. And especially  when it's someone you're really excited about. So the fact that the posts about these four did well makes me very happy.  As the title states, these are my four favorite musical discoveries of 2016. If you know me, you know that one of my favorite things is coming across more acts to love. As if I don't love enough already. Honestly, it's never enough. Not with all the time I spend listening to music. How about we get to it?

All a cappella roads appear to lead back to Geoff Castellucci. I say this because it seems like a bunch of the a cappella artists that I've come to love have had something to do with him. Those of you who know the story of how I became such a fan of a cappella music know that it all began with a medley. A medley that was performed by Home Free. A medley that I would later learn was arranged by Geoff and his arranging and rhythm producing partner in crime, Layne Stein. A medley that sparked my love for Home Free which in turn led me to VoicePlay. If you've spent any time on here over the past couple of years, you are well aware that I am a full-fledged VoicePlayaholic. It was through Geoff that I learned about ECHO earlier this year. Geoff Castellucci, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of a cappella music, y'all. It is here that I feel obliged to offer a word of warning for anyone who may dare to keep reading past this point.  If you choose to proceed, you must do so with the utmost...

This is going to be part album review and part an introduction to a group that some of you might not be familiar with yet. With some videos thrown in for fun. First things first: who is 7th Ave? It's a new quartet founded by one Chris Rupp. You know, as in the guy who also founded an a cappella group that I'm quite fond of: Home Free. Yeah, him. Earlier this year, he announced that he would be leaving Home Free to pursue other musical interests. I'll be honest and admit that this news made me sad at first. It's always sad when someone leaves a group that you love. I've had it happen multiple times. That said, I think that this departure was the easiest to handle for me. I say this because Home Free is still very much intact and making great music with new member Adam Chance. And Chris has more or less been a music making machine; we never really had time to miss him because he's been producing so much content. Let's recap: he put out a beautiful piano albu...

Should you happen to come across Steel Union's biography on either their Facebook or Twitter pages, you would see their names and that they like harmony and dobros. Well, I too like harmony and dobros. I've talked about what a sucker I am for great harmonies multiple times in the past, but haven't said as much about my love of the dobro. Ah the dobro, a very cool instrument that gets very little recognition these days. I feel like the only time you really see them anymore is as part of a bluegrass group. Another reason to appreciate bluegrass. But mainstream country music has seemingly turned its back on the poor dobro. So anytime it pops up is a cause for celebration. I somehow always forget how much I love that instrument until I hear it. This is a shame because I happen to own a dobro that I attempted to learn how to play a few years ago. My use of the word attempted should be a clue as to how well that endeavor turned out. But since discovering this trio, I've been ...

The musical thunderbolt. Partly inspired by an episode of The Golden Girls , this is what I've taken to calling those times when you basically love a singer or band from the very first time you hear them. I don't know about the rest of you, but it generally takes me a while to love an artist. Even if I like them from the beginning. The love usually comes in later. Usually. My assumption is that it's like this for most people most of the time. Which makes getting hit by the musical thunderbolt so powerful. It's like the stars have perfectly aligned themselves to bring you the perfect act at the perfect time. To date I have had this happen six times. Rascal Flatts was the first. Little Big Town, Eric Church and Chris Young were the next three. Then there was Parmalee and now? Now there's Home Free. I've always said I was a sucker for harmony and I think this kind of proves it. It's been about a month since I first found out about Home Free, but they've a...

This is the first post of what's going to be an ongoing series. There's so many fantastic artists out there that deserve to be listened to who you may or may not be familiar with. Maybe it'll be someone you have never heard of or maybe it'll be a person or group whose name you might know, but that's about it. And sometimes I might focus on a more well known artist and talk about why I believe they deserve their fame. Whatever the case may be, this is where I'll be sharing my thoughts on why you should listen to the person or people in question. All of the people I talk about are going to be current artists and is the first of what'll end up being multiple ongoing series of post. I'm also going to be doing one highlighting various artists from the past who aren't with us any longer - a series that is currently untitled, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. To kick off this series, I've decided to focus on a group of guys who call the...