Happy February! These aren’t exactly brand new, but I’ve seriously been getting into these two CDs lately, and I had to pass them along.
The first is a Califone record called Roots & Crowns released in October of 2006, which has been on plenty of “Best of 2006″ lists.
The second song is by a man called Michael Hurley who apparently was discovered by a Jazz and Blues Historian. His debut record, appropriately called First Songs, was released in 1965 by Folkways Records. It’s an incredibly intimate record, with both vocals and guitar rusty as weathered nails, yet they possess such an emotional familiarity that it’s impossible to avoid being entranced. Hurley belts out chillingly beautiful and delightfully simple American Folk songs that leave one filled with a sense of “less is more”, and humility is kingly.
