On Our Way To Crazy

1. Take Us To the Start – Matt Hires

As past of our Directv package, we have a bunch of XM stations available to us. My favorite is called The Coffee House. They play a lot of singer-songwriter-y stuff… lots of acoustic live tracks and covers and stuff like that. They don’t play a ton of new stuff, but every now and then something comes along that is new to me. Like Matt Hires. This kid is awesome. His voice is a teensy bit Adam Duritzish, which I love, and his songs have kind of a classic folk feel, like The Band or Neil Young. The whole record is really good, but the single is definitely the standout track.

Download: “Honey Let Me Sing You a Song”

2. The Chess Hotel – The Elms

I know, I know. I am about a thousand years late on The Elms. I can’t be on time to every party. A friend of mine gave me this record over a year ago, but for some reason I didn’t give it much of a listen until recently. It is so, so cool. It’s just a great rock record. I don’t know why I waited so long to check these guys out. I have no idea what the rest of their music sounds like… they were on a Christian label for a while before putting this one out on, weirdly, a country imprint. But if you like blues-y rock music, you will love this.

Download: “The Way I Will”

3. The Fall – Norah Jones

Oh my gosh, you guys. NORAH JONES. You remember her, right? She won a thousand Grammys, then made a gorgeous second record, then a third record that was also great but no one bought. Then she made this record. And it is fabulous. It’s a big step away from the jazzy bluesy stuff she used to do… it has more of a roots-rock feel that suits her voice perfectly. It’s really moody and mellow. So good.

Download: “It’s Gonna Be”