Indie label, Vanguard Records, got caught up in the Christmas spirit and decided give to us a free Holiday Sampler. It has tracks from some the best artists that they represent, from Brandi Carlile to Josh Ritter to Dar Williams to Greg Laswell…well you get the point and you can see all their names on the album cover to the left. Not all of the tracks are Holiday themed, but it is still a great mix for the holiday season. Click here to get this joyous holiday mix.
Between the lovely Neko and extremely talented Samantha Crain, some of my favorite albums of the year have been by female artists. Not only do both of these girls have amazing voices, but they also write all of their own songs. Another girl that fits all those categories is singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile. I haven’t had the chance to hear this record yet, but if her first to records are indicators of what we should expect, she’ll join Neko and Sam in the top half of my year end list. The new record, Give Up the Ghost doesn’t have an official release date yet, but I’m sure it won’t be too long, because she sets off on the “Give Up the Ghost Traveling Show” on September 10th. If you’ve never listened to Carlile before, here is a short little playlist for you with one of my favorites from each of her previous full-length albums and a great live cover song.
The Give Up the Ghost Traveling Show Dates
Sep 10 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
Sep 11 Boulder, CO Chautauqua Auditorium
Sep 14 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
Sep 15 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
Sep 16 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room at the Murat Centre
Sep 17 Cincinnati, OH Madison Theater
Sep 21 Madison, WI Barrymore Theatre
Sep 23 Minneapolis, MN The O’Shaughnessy
Sep 25 Chicago, IL House of Blues
Sep 28 Ann Arbor, MI Michigan Theater
Sep 29 Toronto, Canada The Mod Club
Oct 1 Northampton, MA Calvin Theatre
Oct 2 Boston, MA House of Blues
Oct 3 New York, NY Beacon Theater
Oct 6 Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theatre
Oct 7 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
Oct 8 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live
Oct 10 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
Oct 11 Birmingham, AL Workplay Soundstage
Oct 12 Fayetteville, AR Town Center
Oct 14 Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom
Oct 15 Santa Fe, NM The Lensic Performing Arts Center
So other than my addiction to tv on dvd, there hasn’t been hardly any tv watching for me over the past year or two. But with the constant syndication of the Olympics on NBC I have watched more television in the past month than I have in the past year, at least that is commercialized television. And to my delight I discovered that over the past year commercials have developed great taste in music. My buddy JC wrote a couple days ago about the relationship between music and movies. So today I would like to highlight the relationship between music and commercials. Well I actually don’t have a lot to say. We all understand and have even experienced how it works. You see a commercial, you like the song, not only do you look up who sings the song, but you also find yourself thinking about that commercial more often. It’s a win win situation for all. I’m actually surprised it has taken so long for it to catch on the way it has. Because I think most of you all would agree that there have been a plethora of great songs in big name commercials over the past month. So today I am going to highlight some of the ones that I loved the most. And then if you want you can share any that you have seen and loved.
First of all I would say that for the most part the car manufacturers have shown the most improvement in their musical taste. Like for instance the new GM commercial that features the ever so talented Brandi Carlile singing the title track off her most recent album.
Then there is the ever so addictive song by Sea Wolf that is found in the new Chevy Malibu commercial. I seriously cannot get enough of that song. I first heard it over a year ago and it is still in constant rotation on my ipod. For some reason I can’t find that one on youtube. But here is the song.
And I can’t leave out the AT&T Olympics commercial that ever so wisely features a song off of The Crane Wife by The Decemberists, not to mention the incredibly talented Gold Medalist Nastia Luikin. Which this one doesn’t surprise me. AT&T have been filling my sporting event breaks with creative and entertaining commercials for years.
And last but certainly not least, my favorite commercial that I have seen during my many hours of watching the Olympics. The very touching and inspiring Coca Cola commercial that shows tons of athletes from both the Olympics and the Special Olympics bowing to receive their medals. It makes me think of my absolutely fantastic and brilliant little cousin who has down syndrome, and it almost makes me cry every time. And they seriously could not have picked a better song. This song evokes so much emotion out of me even with out the images it accompanies here in the commercial.
Now I realize that unless you are incredibly unpatriotic and have chosen to watch the trash like Deal or No Deal instead of the Olympics, that you have already seen these commercials. But I thought you might enjoy learning who the artists were behind this great marketing scheme. And feel free to let me know if there are any you were disappointed to not see on here. Or if you there was another commercial that you liked the song but didn’t know what it was, maybe I could help you out. Until next time…keep bleeding.
Indie label, Vanguard Records, got caught up in the Christmas spirit and decided give to us a free Holiday Sampler. It has tracks from some the best artists that they represent, from Brandi Carlile to Josh Ritter to Dar Williams to Greg Laswell…well you get the point and you can see all their names on the album cover to the left. Not all of the tracks are Holiday themed, but it is still a great mix for the holiday season. Click here to get this joyous holiday mix.
