This album is awesome.  Robert Morgan Fisher weaves a tapestry of storytelling and song.  The songs on this album are compelling and gripping.  They envelop the listener in a warm blanket of mystery, intrigue and lore.  Fisher revives and perfects the lost art of yarn spinning.

These songs are about everything from the life of a hobo to the chilling secret life of a vigilante hooker.  It’s like curling up with a favorite book which had it’s own soundtrack.   The pictures painted by these songs are vivid and unforgettable.  This album leaves me wanting more.

The images are haunting and the music is hypnotic.  My favorite song on this album is the creepy and endearing story of Hobo Jerry. The Neo-narative style of Americana, folk music is engaging and delightful. This allbum is a must have for anyone who loves music and the stories which create it.  Five stars!
watch?v=eTH3y2OchRQ

I received an invite to netteradio.com’s biweekly Friday showcase which is at The Talking Stick in Venice, CA It is a nice little coffee shop just 6 minutes from my day gig.

So here I sit listening to a powerful voiced woman singing and strumming. The first two artists are very good.

It’s kind of cool sitting here writing my blog. I will have to do this more often though I need that free Wifi connection and a place that is pretty quiet like this one.

Look for more reviews like this. I am really too tired dig into details. I am going to enjoy the show. I will be back.

Thanks for the invite netteradio.com

Keith

www.thetalkingstick.net

netteradio.com

P.S. The artists are:

The Conlons, VK Lynne, Annelise LeCheminant, Stacy Robin, and Brooke Trout!

My fav so far is Annelise LeCheminant. I really like her voice and her songs are haunting. See. I am tired. I am being direct and not using my colorful language. Oh well.

This CD is pure romance and fiery passion. The love songs are so intensely personal and run so deep, they leave one breathless and wanting more. The music envelops the listener and wraps around the heart in such a manner, it is impossible to leave these songs behind once the Cd has stopped playing. Brett Mikels gives a glimpse inside his heart and shares a part of his soul. The music is flawless and inviting.

The song “Drive” is a sensual song about aching and longing for that special person. It’s burning and blazing with a heat of passion which is unmistakable. Even the music conveys the undeniable message of what this beautiful song is about.

“Unlikely Messenger is one of the sweetest and most enjoyable songs on the album. It’s an up-tempo love song about being pleasantly surprised. This song is a joy.

Time To Say Goodbye is a bittersweet reminder of the choices we make. This heartbreaking song is beautifully written and performed with striking tenderness in the vocal.

Brett Mikels has recorded an album which is honest, sexy, romantic and fun. Five Stars.

watch?v=KVUtu3A3G08

This CD is strong with great musicianship. It’s awash with guitars and James Lee Stanley captivates with his awesome storytelling and enchanting vocals. The songs are well-crafted and intriguing. “Stolen Season” is a passionate love song about being in love but having to keep it a secret. The rhythm of this song is alluring and mesmerizing, and the instrumentation is brilliantly simple and brings the vocals to life.  this album.

This album is pure Folk and Americana music at its best. “Long Way From Home” is one of my favorite songs, full of wisdom and wonder, and about life and the challenges and circumstances we all face on life’s journey. “Stop This Rain” is a bluesy western-sounding tune that the artist sings with riveting emotion.

The album has everything from tender love songs to fun toe-tapping numbers we all love. The harmonies are infectious, very warm and beautiful. New Traces of The Old Road is a must-have for any music lover. Five stars!

Here is another great song from this album.

watch?v=6nBx9oR1LS4

Hello blog readers.

I hope you are enjoying Michelle’s reviews.

I have been really slammed with music projects, two new web development jobs, an online video project a new band and life and relationship struggles.

The band, job and video project are going very well.

Look for my band Jet Pack Armada to out and playing in the Orange County and L.A. area.

I will announce the new video series when it airs it’s pilot online. It is going to be amazing and innovative so keep a watch for it.

I should hopefully be back to writing once things settle down a bit.

Have a great week everyone!!!!

Keith Kehrer

This gospel album is truly remarkable.  RJ Chesney breathes new life into some cherished old Hymns.  His fresh approach and new arrangements bring out the beautiful essence of the songs. 

Included on this album are five original songs which are beautifully thought provoking and tender.  The title track,  “Prayers of a wayward Son” is a triumph of the spirit in spite of the failings of the flesh.  It’s a heart wrenching and heartwarming.  The vocals are pure and melodic, and filled with emotion.  The opening line says it all, “Oh Momma…what have I done? I lived my life like a loaded gun. I rode the rails that led straight to hell and threw my soul into a long black well.” RJ Chesney sings from his heart.  The music envelops the listener in a blanket of inspiration and praise.

“Rest Now” is hauntingly beautiful.  It is a loving tribute to a loved one who has passed away too soon.  This song moves the soul and touches the heart.  “Do not wait for me sweet angel; do not burden those hard earned wings.  You just fly into the light now and release all  earth bound pain.”

Jason Hiller’s production on this album is fantastic.  Hiller and Chesney have created one of the best albums of 2010.  The musicianship and vocals are as outstanding as the lyrics.  The songs range from the touching heartbreaker to the  old-time, toe tapping, hand clapping gospel favorites.

  This album is a joy, a true delight.  It’s a must have for anyone who loves great gospel music.  I give Prayers of A Wayward Son, five stars.  You can hear samples of the CD on www.cdbaby.com/rjchesney  

The hauntingly beautiful, “Rest Now”
watch?v=L7JhjVyGIM0

This self titled, debut album is a Rock N Roll delight and a musical joy. The songs are strong and very well written. This CD features soaring guitar solos and beautiful warm harmonies.

The lyrics are cutting and thought provoking. This record is modern Rock written in s classic tradition. It’s awash with guitars both electric and acoustic. It’s a Guitar Rock lover’s dream. The song, “Daddy’s Gone Away” is haunting and beautiful, a heartbreaking ballad which touches the heart and moves the soul. It is an expression of love and a loving tribute for dads who have to be away from their families.

Another of my favorite songs from this album is, “Rainbow Angel Girl”. It’s an up-tempo fun love song. It’s full of passion and fire and sweet romance. It’s sexy and warm and full of charm and the music is enchanting.

Aaron Wolfson has created a masterpiece with the music on this album. He wrote all the songs, played all the instruments, except for drums, sang all the vocals and produced this outstanding CD himself. I give Aaron Wolfson five stars. The CD is a must have for anyone who loves music.

This is a video of one of the songs from the album

We have added a new reviewer to our humble site. She is a wonderful writer,  with a knack for getting to the core of musicians and their art.

Please welcome her. She will be helping me catch up on reviews.

Keith Kehrer

There’s no speed limit. (The lessons that changed my life.) | Derek Sivers

There’s no speed limit. (The lessons that changed my life.)

2009-12-01

Whether you’re a student, teacher, or parent, I think you’ll appreciate this story of how one teacher can completely and permanently change someone’s life in only a few lessons.

I met Kimo Williams when I was 17 – the summer after I graduated high school in Chicago, a few months before I was starting Berklee College of Music.

I called an ad in the paper by a recording studio, with a random question about music typesetting.

When the studio owner heard I was going to Berklee, he said, “I graduated from Berklee, and taught there for a few years, too. I’ll bet I can teach you two years’ of theory and arranging in only a few lessons. I suspect you can graduate in two years if you understand there’s no speed limit. Come by my studio at 9:00 tomorrow for your first lesson, if you’re interested. No charge.”

Graduate college in two years? Awesome! I liked his style. That was Kimo Williams.

Excited as hell, I showed up to his studio at 8:40 the next morning, though I waited outside until 8:59 before ringing his bell.

(Recently I heard him tell this same story from his perspective and said, “My doorbell rang at 8:59 one morning and I had no idea why. I run across kids all the time who say they want to be a great musician. I tell them I can help, and tell them to show up at my studio at 9am if they’re serious. Almost nobody ever does. It’s how I weed out the really serious ones from the kids who are just talk. But there he was, ready to go.”)

He opened the door. A tall black man in a Hawaiian shirt and big hat, a square scar on his nose, a laid-back demeanor, and a huge smile, sizing me up, nodding.

After a one-minute welcome, we were sitting at the piano, analyzing the sheet music for a jazz standard. He was quickly explaining the chords based on the diatonic scale. How the dissonance of the tri-tone in the 5-chord with the flat-7 is what makes it want to resolve to the 1. Within a minute, I was already being quizzed, “If the 5-chord with the flat-7 has that tritone, then so does another flat-7 chord. Which one?”

“Uh… the flat-2 chord?”

“Right! So that’s a substitute chord. Any flat-7 chord can always be substituted with the other flat-7 that shares the same tritone. So reharmonize all the chords you can in this chart. Go.”

The pace was intense, and I loved it. Finally, someone was challenging me – keeping me in over my head – encouraging and expecting me to pull myself up, quickly. I was learning so fast, it had the adrenaline of sports or a video game. A two-way game of catch, he tossed every fact back at me and made me prove I got it.

In our three-hour lesson that morning, he taught me a full semester of Berklee’s harmony courses. In our next four lessons, he taught me the next four semesters of harmony and arranging requirements.

When I got to college and took my entrance exams, I tested out of those six semesters of required classes.

Then, as he suggested, I bought the course materials for other required classes and taught myself, doing the homework on my own time, then went to the department head and took the final exam, getting full credit for the course.

Doing this in addition to my full course load, I graduated college in two and a half years – (got my bachelor’s degree when I was 20) – squeezing every bit of education out of that place that I could.

But the permanent effect was this:

Kimo’s high expectations set a new pace for me. He taught me “the standard pace is for chumps” – that the system is designed so anyone can keep up. If you’re more driven than “just anyone” – you can do so much more than anyone expects. And this applies to ALL of life – not just school.

Before I met him, I was just a kid who wanted to be a musician, doing it casually.

Ever since our five lessons, high expectations became my norm, and still are to this day. Whether music, business, or personal – whether I actually achieve my expectations or not – the point is that I owe every great thing that’s happened in my life to Kimo’s raised expectations. That’s all it took. A random meeting and five music lessons to convince me I can do anything more effectively than anyone expects.

(And so can anyone else.)

I wish the same experience for everyone. I have no innate abilities. This article wasn’t meant to be about me as much as the life-changing power of a great teacher and raised expectations.

Kimo knows how much he means to me, and we’re friends to this day. Read his full biography and buy his CDs at his website omik.com.

P.S. On a related note, see my talk to incoming first-year Berklee students.
Kimo Williams

© 2009 Derek Sivers