Common Sound......

Haven't gotten anything posted in a while, but that doesn't mean i've been lazy (ok, i'm always lazy). The last few days i've been sorta revamping my page:

• i added the little blue player button - which seems to help with download times.
• i put an embedded stream player on the side bar that plays 50 of my most recent songs.
• i signed up with SiteMeter, so now i can see all the details of people's visits, including: location (i've had readers from all across the country and even Germany, Sweden, Austria, Pakistan, Australia, and The Philippines), time spent on the page, out clicks (the last page someone veiwed - which helps to track which songs people are downloading most), and referrals. These show that most people are finding 'This Mornin....' from Elbo.ws, which is cool.

i don't have any new tracks to post - at least none that are post-worthy - so i guess i'll just find a common theme within some songs:

Scott Avett

The Banjo

An arcadian instrument formed from an mixture of traditional African instruments by American Slaves, the banjo evolved into the focal instrument in traditional country/bluegrass music. That's all changing. The banjo is no longer reserved for only country music. Bands that are more on the rock side of the spectrum are employing this highly versatile tool to bring out sounds that, otherwise, would have not have been possible. Sometimes it's just the resonating plunk in the background to top off a song (like in the Band of Horses tune below), and sometimes the banjo drives the song (like in the Avett Brothers, OCMS, and Abigail Washburn below), but however it's used, the instrument brings out a different, kinda warm feel.

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here's a selection of tunes that use the banjo in non-traditional ways:

mp3: The Avett Brothers - Pretty Girl from Chile ~ from Emotionalism (2007)

mp3: Band of Horses - Window Blues ~ from Cease To Begin (2007)

mp3: Ryan Adams - Bartering Lines ~ from Heartbreaker (2000)

mp3: Abigail Washburn - Coffee's Cold ~ from Song of the Traveling Daughter (2005)

mp3: Old Crow Medicine Show - Don't Ride That Horse ~ from Big Iron World (2006)

mp3: Matt Powell - Dragonfly ~ from Dragonfly (2002)

**Sidetrack**

to accompany my first Matt Powell reference, here is a song of his that has always hit me hard. i don't know the exact reason, but it's a powerful track.

mp3: Matt Powell - The Smell of Her Hair