December 25: Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days

For a final pick, my favorite album in recent memory. "You and Me on the Rock" is perhaps my favorite song of the last few years. 

Merry Christmas, y'all! 

December 24: Lake Street Dive - Obviously

As we near the end, I'm digging into the digital music purchases. 

Several songs from this album got a lot of play on our community public radio station, particularly on our favorite show, Undercurrents. (Sadly, Undercurrents ended its run earlier this year, and oh boy do we miss it! A streaming option is still available: https://www.undercurrentsradio.net/listen)

The two songs on this album that I love most are "Hypotheticals" and "Know That I Know". Just so rich and groovy!

December 23: Bonnie Raitt - Luck of the Draw

Much like with Fleetwood Mac, this was my introduction to Bonnie Raitt, even though she was hardly a new artist at the time. This album came out in 1991, and two songs in particular played on the radio constantly: "Something to Talk About" and "I Can't Make You Love Me".

December 22: Toys - Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

This album does not exist on Apple Music, but I wanted to include it because it's the only album in our random CDs collection that is (kind of) Christmas-themed. 

The movie Toys, starring Robin Williams, came out around the holidays in 1992, and my family definitely saw it in the theater and had it on VHS and watched it regularly. The title song "Closing of the Year" got lots of radio play around the release and has been stuck in my head since then. The soundtrack also includes Enya and Tori Amos and Hans Zimmer. 

In retrospect, this movie is BANANAS, and the only passing resemblance to a Christmas movie is that it's set in a toy factory. 

December 21: Kansas - The Best of Kansas

Some of the songs on this album are the ones I know and sing along to. ("Wayward Son", I'm looking at you.) But some of the ones on this album are longer ones that rarely get radio play, so I'd never heard them before, and of that set, I think "No One Together" is my favorite.

December 20: A Chorus Line - Original Cast Recording

The $0.99 section offered up this gem! I think Bryan even found it and gave it to me? He does not share my love of musicals, or this one in particular, but we listened to it in the car anyway.

December 19: Huey Lewis & the News - Greatest Hits

This was Bryan's pick, and I gotta say, I want to sing along to almost every song on it - even one I forgot about, the duet with Gwyneth Paltrow from that weird karaoke movie.

December 18: Sheryl Crow - C'mon, C'mon

This is another CD from the bin at the Friends of the Library book sale this summer. A few songs I remember, a few songs I don't. 

December 17: Dolly Parton - Ultimate Dolly Parton

I came later in my life to my appreciation for Dolly Parton, but now I'm all in. Books for kids, funding for COVID vaccine research, and a bunch of great music. What's not to like? I listened to Dolly talk about writing "9 to 5" on the Apple Fitness+ Time to Walk podcast, and this collection includes that song.  

Funny story: when I was little, I thought Dolly was married to Kenny Rogers, I think because they appeared together in a Muppet Christmas special I saw on TV.

December 16: Eagles - Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)

Just a whole bunch of songs we know well. Excellent road trip music.  

December 15: OneRepublic - Waking Up

OneRepublic was on the list because Bryan has seen them twice, both at corporate events. They were the first act he saw at his first Bay Area employer and the last act he saw at his last Bay Area employer. 

December 14: Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?

Anyway, here's "Wonderwall." 😁

December 13: Fleetwood Mac - The Dance (Live)

This album came out when I was in high school, and while live albums are not always my preference, there are some unique versions of Fleetwood Mac songs. It includes my favorite version of "Silver Spring", which I think might have been my introduction to Stevie Nicks. 

December 12: Paramore - All We Know is Falling

Bryan had Paramore on the music list, and I think I remember him telling me it was because of something unique about their style of music production. Regardless, now we have some!

December 11: Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience

There is a podcast called 60 Songs that Explain the '90s, and the second episode is about a song on this album.  The song, "Hey Jealousy", is one that I like, so when we had a chance, we got this album. 

December 10: Tracy Chapman - Matters of the Heart

I think this is a CD Bryan plucked out of a Friends of the Library sale bin. Notably it does not include THE Tracy Chapman song that's getting all the attention lately, but it does include some other great music. 

December 9: Mamma Mia! (The Movie Soundtrack)

I can't remember why I wanted this album. However, there is something particularly endearing about the actors in the movie who are less-than-polished singers, and the way they give it their all anyway. 

December 8: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Facing Future

When we lived in the Boston area, there was a radio station that had a mellow music show, and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of "Over the Rainbow" was always the final song of the show. When we were picking through the remaining CDs at the end of the local library book sale this summer, this is one of the ones we grabbed.   

December 7: The Gourds - Cow Fish Fowl or Pig

We knew about The Gourds because of their cover of "Gin and Juice," which we've listened to a lot over the years, so we decided to try some more. This is one of the albums we found.

December 6: Liz Phair - whitechocolatespaceegg

I knew Liz Phair from "Rocket Boy" on the Stealing Beauty soundtrack. This is a very different vibe from that. 

December 5: Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You

This album wasn't released until 2003, but it sounds like the 90s to me. 

December 4: Rush - Chronicles

I didn't know I liked Rush until I heard the song "Fly By Night" on the radio. Bryan has known he liked Rush for years, particularly due to the skill of the late drummer Neil Peart. We didn't have very much Rush in our collection, so we picked up this two-disc album. 

December 3: Tedeschi Trucks Band - Signs

Our community public radio station plays A LOT of Tedeschi Trucks Band music, so we bought some. 

December 2: OK Go's Eponymous Album

I learned about OK Go when their meticulously choreographed videos were first shared all over the internet, but we didn't own any of their albums until recently. This is their first album. 

Advent Calendar 2023: Welcome to our eclectic music collection!

How is it possible that December 1 has rolled around again? This year for our Advent Calendar, I’m taking my inspiration from our travels, sort of. 

Until only about a year ago, we didn’t subscribe to any streaming music services (we have an Apple Music subscription now), so we’ve always bought music. Some of what we’ve purchased over the years has been digital, but we’ve also bought lots of CDs.

When we lived in San Jose, our apartment was an easy walk from a shopping plaza with a used CD store. Every few months, we’d take walk and stop to browse CDs on our way home. There was always some kind of great deal to be found: ten CDs for $20, gems in the $0.99 bin, never-been-opened CDs that were still marked as used, etc. We started keeping a shared list on our phones of music we thought we might like to have in our library, including specific albums, artists, soundtracks, and even genres, so it would be handy when we were shopping. Even after we moved to Wisconsin, we never stopped adding to the list. 

This fall on our westward roadtrip, one of our stops in the Bay Area was the used CD store. It is, thank goodness, still open. We hadn’t been there in more than three years, and we’ve discovered lots of new music since our last visit, so the list on our phones was long. We bought about forty CDs - and since our car actually has a CD player, we listened to them on the drive home. There were a few duds, but honestly not as many as we might have feared!

So, this Advent, you get an album a day! It might be a CD from our most recent haul, another CD from our library, or a digital music purchase. I’ll include a digital listening option where I can, or you can always let us know what you might want to borrow from us (if it’s a CD). [Mom - you have Apple Music now, so if you click on the Apple Music link below, it should just open up on your computer, phone, or iPad.]

December 1: Boston - Greatest Hits

We weren't actually familiar with most of the songs on this album. If I recall correctly, it had extensive liner notes. The bonkers cover art was reason enough to buy it!

Rustic Roads of Waushara County

 This winter, I've been posting video recordings of the Rustic Roads that I rode my motorcycle down last year. I thought you all might enjoy this week's episode (number 16), because it includes R102, the closest Rustic Road to Shack II. As far as I can remember, that's the first Rustic Road sign I ever noticed, possibly on the way to our wedding shower. Eighteen years of "planning", and I finally made it down on a whim thanks to that heat wave we had in November.

R102 starts at 8:45, but there's also a covered wooden bridge around 0:45, which I always enjoy.