Whats playing on your system today?

Iris Dement's Lifeline album, in which she celebrates her Christian faith. Don't let that scare you off, non-believers! Remember how good Dylan's trio of Christian albums were? Audiophile favorite Alison Krauss does Gospel-influenced material, as do many other Bluegrass artists. And Elvis!

The Band's Music From Big Pink. Next year marks fifty years---50 years!---since it's 1968 release, and it hasn't dated one iota. What a breathe of fresh air is was in that year, swimming head-on against the tide of Psychedelia, lame British blues bands (Ten Years After? Oy vey!), show-off would-be-virtuoso improvisers, and album-side long "songs". MFBP is not only a great album musically, but it is a Master's Class in Rock 'n' Roll musicianship; everything you need to know to play the music is contained in the grooves of the album. It (heh) rocked the music world to it's core when it came out, changing and actually determining the musical path many songwriters, players, and singers took after fully absorbing it's brilliance and significance. Absolutely and by a considerable margin, the most extraordinary debut album of all time, and an all-time Top 10 record. The Band's follow-up---s/t, also known as the brown album, is equally great, some feel even better than MFBP. I love them both to death, each being in my own personal Top 10 album list.