You know what is getting me all excited this Thursday night? Besides the fact that I’m vacation all week, I just had a great day with my wife and kiddos, and I’ve had a couple of Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ales? And we’re about to jump into 2011?

Well, it’s all this undiscovered music – new and old. Mostly old, the way I work. There are too many originators, trailblazers and legends I have yet to fully explore.

This year, thanks to a great book and an amazing documentary (I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon and Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?), I jumped into the work of Warren Zevon and Harry Nilsson – two early departed geniuses who I only knew through their big “hits”.

Tonight, I was listening to Bernie Taupin’s American Roots radio show on Sirius, and he made mention of Ry Cooder’s Chicken Skin Music – an album I had never listened to all the way through.

Ry Cooder is one of those artists who I wholly admire, and though I have some of his stuff – mostly recent – there is still a mountain of music to discover. Ry first entered my consciousness when the Buena Vista Social Club documentary was released in the late 90′s. I knew the name, but after watching BVSC, I then knew that Ry Cooder was one amazing motherfucker – a musicologist, a champion of different genres. No ego, just the insatiable drive to expose different kinds of music to the masses.

With BVCS, Ry traveled to Cuba and singlehandedly revived a genre – pulling musicians who were once legends in their prime out of their everyday lives and back into the limelight they so richly deserved. Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Ruben Gonzalez, Ibrahim Ferrer…

Ibrahim Ferrer, man. Voice of an angel. I would have NEVER known of Ibrahim Ferrer if it wasn’t for Ry Cooder. “Aquellos Ojos Verdes”… “Silencio”… two of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard! In 2003, Ibrahim went on tour, and I was able to see him in a small arts theater (ASU’s Gammage Auditorium). Two years later, Ibrahim was gone.

Cooder’s a treasure. So I’m making it a point in 2011 to jump into his work. Which comes back to tonight’s Sirius radio show. I dialed up Chicken Skin Music on Rdio and was transported to a fine fine place. A place where you’re not concerned with what kind of music you’re listening to. It’s gospel, it’s soul, it’s blues, it’s island music.. it’s true roots.

For me, music doesn’t need categorization. You just listen to it and you feel it – that’s the beautiful thing about it. Ry recognizes that in every project he involves himself in. And it’s people like me who appreciate that.

I feel sorry for people who limit themselves when it comes to the music they listen to. Me? I open myself up, and soak it all in…

Share This...

• Tweet