Like most people, I've gone through many phases of music genres that I like. In school I seemed to like what my friends did. Actually, I should say that I listened to what my friends liked. I don't know that I genuinely liked Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent and AC/DC, but that's what my peers listened to so I did too. As I grew older - and more independent - I found myself into Adult Contemporary Top 40 music. That phase lasted many, many years.
For a number of other reasons, I have always been a huge Elton John fan, dating back to 1974, when he and Schroeder (from the Peanuts) were my inspiration to play the piano. Anyway, one day in the early 90's while watching a documentary on Elton, he came home from a trip, walked into his living room and turned on his stereo. He grabbed a CD and said "This is my favorite album and I highly recommend it". It was Mary J. Blige's "Share My World". I was compelled to check it out. If a guy I've been a fan of for a number of years says he likes something, I want to hear it.
Around that same time, I was channel surfing one day and saw this group of guys standing around a grand piano, dressed to the nines in black and white tuxedo's and red scarves singing Christmas carols on Regis. I was struck by their appearance so I watched for a bit. I have never heard anything quite like what I heard that day. It was awe inspiring. That group was Dru Hill. So between the Elton recommendation and Dru Hill's performance, I instantly became a fan of R&B. That R&B phase lasted until sometime last year when I moved onto the Blues. I would've bet anything that I spent the next decade or so in this Blues phase. Wrong!
Last month, I bought a new truck and it came with a Sirrius/XM radio and a 3-month trial subscription. I'm not a radio guy so it really didn't mean much to me. I expected to use it for the 3 months it was free and that would be it. Wrong again! For the first week or so I did nothing but scan through as many stations as I could. But one day, a song struck me just like Dru Hill did. I was just blown away by what I heard. Not so much that it was this awesome song but rather the vocal ability of the person singing it. It was a gospel tune on the Praise station. I haven't listened to anything else except Praise since. Nearly every song I hear on that station is a knock-it-out-of-the-park-bottom-of-the-ninth-grand-slam-home-run performance. I'm hooked!
Make no mistake. The subject matter of gospel music has no bearing on my affinity for it. My lack of particpation in the religious threads should be enough to say that I'm not the most religious person on the planet. I'm a lot closer to Matt's camp than I am Pauly's. But this newfound interest of mine in this glorious music is substantial and the progression just seems to make sense. From R&B to Blues to gospel.
I wonder what will come next.
For a number of other reasons, I have always been a huge Elton John fan, dating back to 1974, when he and Schroeder (from the Peanuts) were my inspiration to play the piano. Anyway, one day in the early 90's while watching a documentary on Elton, he came home from a trip, walked into his living room and turned on his stereo. He grabbed a CD and said "This is my favorite album and I highly recommend it". It was Mary J. Blige's "Share My World". I was compelled to check it out. If a guy I've been a fan of for a number of years says he likes something, I want to hear it.
Around that same time, I was channel surfing one day and saw this group of guys standing around a grand piano, dressed to the nines in black and white tuxedo's and red scarves singing Christmas carols on Regis. I was struck by their appearance so I watched for a bit. I have never heard anything quite like what I heard that day. It was awe inspiring. That group was Dru Hill. So between the Elton recommendation and Dru Hill's performance, I instantly became a fan of R&B. That R&B phase lasted until sometime last year when I moved onto the Blues. I would've bet anything that I spent the next decade or so in this Blues phase. Wrong!
Last month, I bought a new truck and it came with a Sirrius/XM radio and a 3-month trial subscription. I'm not a radio guy so it really didn't mean much to me. I expected to use it for the 3 months it was free and that would be it. Wrong again! For the first week or so I did nothing but scan through as many stations as I could. But one day, a song struck me just like Dru Hill did. I was just blown away by what I heard. Not so much that it was this awesome song but rather the vocal ability of the person singing it. It was a gospel tune on the Praise station. I haven't listened to anything else except Praise since. Nearly every song I hear on that station is a knock-it-out-of-the-park-bottom-of-the-ninth-grand-slam-home-run performance. I'm hooked!
Make no mistake. The subject matter of gospel music has no bearing on my affinity for it. My lack of particpation in the religious threads should be enough to say that I'm not the most religious person on the planet. I'm a lot closer to Matt's camp than I am Pauly's. But this newfound interest of mine in this glorious music is substantial and the progression just seems to make sense. From R&B to Blues to gospel.
I wonder what will come next.
