Listen to This Now: The Haunted Windchimes.

Earlier this year when I started to pick up writing on this blog again I wanted to be able to share my love of music with everyone.  One of the big things that I wanted to do was to share with you the reader some awesome bands that you may or may not know of.  In return I want you to share bands with me so I can expand my musical horizon as well.  I love it when someone tells me to go listen to a band and I immediately get hooked on them.  This next band was just that.  An instant favorite of mine.

Before I wrote this post I reached out to Inaiah Lujan to ask if they would be okay with my promoting their band and sharing my review.  I wasn't sure if I would ever hear back but almost immediately I did and even got an awesome opportunity, but I am not going to share it all on this post you will have to come back and read the next post.  

The band I want to highlight today is: The Haunted Windchimes.  After this post I hope you will go out and but their album and support these amazing artists.  

Back in December I went to a SoFar Sounds concert here in Denver.  I got the privilege of seeing several bands in a very small venue, I mean probably 30 people.  I heard Inaiah and his wife Desirae perform and this is the first time I had ever heard of The Haunted Windchimes.  I came home that night and found them on iTunes and downloaded all of their albums.

This band has an extremely unique sound.  When I listen to them I feel like I am taken to a different world.  I do not know how you would classify them, are they folk, or are the bluegrass or old time Americana?  I don't know if you can put a label on them besides FREAKING AMAZING!!  This band not only includes a brother and sister playing together but a husband and wife,  They hail from Pueblo, Colorado, what you do not know where that is?  Its in southern Colorado and the population of Pueblo is just a little over 108,000 people.  

The Haunted Windchimes are a band that you would expect to hear on an old vintage radio during the dust bowl.  Their sound is honest and pure.  Inaiah's guitar playing is so fluid and precise.  He makes the guitar sing each note with ease while setting the mood, immediately my mind compared him to Arlo Guthrie.  The band together is what makes The Haunted Windchimes a perfect combination.  Inaiah has his guitar playing and a very soulful voice coming from him that when I saw him I didn't expect.  Desirae and Chela harmonize their voices to the point that it gives me chills, all while they are playing the banjo and ukulele.  They bring a soul and peace to the music that I wasn't expecting.  Its deep and meaningful.  

This is not music that you can listen to if you do not want to feel anything, they have a way of transporting you to a different world with the lyrics and sound.  Just take a look at these lyrics:  

When I come around
I'd really like to see you
Kiss you on the lips before I go
Wrap my arms around your little body
Squeeze you 'till the moonlight takes our soul

I'm leaving here, I'll see you when I see you
Leaving this ghost town, this time for good
Meet me by a train just after midnight
Meet me just like you said you would

When I am listening to them in my car people probably think I am nuts because I am tapping my hands and signing along.  You cant help but become completely engrossed in their sounds and the music.  They have been featured on Prairie Home Companion in 2011 and 2012 and won the Indy Music Award for Americana in 2012.  If  you are looking at buying any music spend your money on The Haunted Windchimes you will not regret it.  Please check back within the next couple of days for an interview I completed with Inaiah and The Haunted Windchimes. 

Here is the bands website complete with bios and videos:  http://inaiahlujan.com/

How do you get your music?

This question came up today between a couple of co-workers and myself today.  How do you get your music?  Do you buy Cd's or records? Do you download music digitally on iTunes, Amazon music? do you stream your music Spotify, Pandora for free of do you pay for streaming services?

I would have never thought that I would be having this conversation 15 years ago.  When I was in high school I was as much into music as I am today.  I remember walking around with my Discman in my back pack or in the back pocket of my JNCO jeans.  I kept my huge CD case in my car and was always listening to music.  I also remember trying to have money so I could go to the store and buy that CD that I had been waiting so long to come out.  I remember going through my parent's old records and realizing how big of hippies they were and are. (side note you know your parents were hippies when you tell your mom "Play Free Bird" and she responds back, no thank you the keyboard part in that song is so boring to play!)  I found a love of music on vinyl records during middle school and now have been able to continue that love of music on vinyl records thanks to the the resurgence of vinyl records. Also who from my generation doesn't remember sitting around the radio trying to make a mixtape for a love interest or friends. I do and it still haunts me when you would hit record too late or stop too early!  

Fast forward to present day and I am always asking for iTunes gift cards so I have a consistent balance on my account so I can buy music whenever I want.  A CD will come out and I can buy it and download it with a touch of a finger first thing that morning or as I lie awake in bed looking at the new music.  I can also stream music with the free services on my phone or iPod while at work through the internet but it is limited unless I want to pay for the monthly service.  Gone are the days of listening to the radio and trying to find out what is new, or waiting for a video to come on MTV and here are the days of opening streaming where you can find new music on a whim and you can pull up a video at any time online.

Has this changed music and the type of music being created?  There are many individuals that have become huge successes because of YouTube or social media.  Can you imagine the hype that the Beatles would have had if social media was around?  Would John Lennon been ripped to pieces when he made his comment about The Beatles being more popular than Jesus?  The Beatles catalog just started being available on Sptotify, this is great for those that do not have their music but I was not overly joyed as I already own almost their complete collection.  I love that I can share my love of music with my children.  Tonight on the way home the kids asked to listen to "Hey Jude" and "Yellow Submarine"..  I was able to plug into my car radio and we listened and sang to these songs all the way home.   I have to say I am so thankful for the download stores and then the current music stores like 2nd and Charles where I can go there and flip through records and share that excitement again of finding that record I was looking for and holding it in my hands

I think feel that this is an interesting conversation that can go in many directions.  Some consider downloading music a crime and then those that feel that Cd's and records are outdated and dying.   My opinion is I could care less how you get music as long as you are listening to music.  I love having my iPod where I have all my music at my finger tips, I like the streaming options so I can find new artists and find new recommendations, but I also love the smell of vinyl records and sharing the experience of having to get up and turn a record over with my kids.  How do you get your music?  Do you have any suggestions or thoughts that you want to share with others?  Please leave comments about your musical taste and band recommendations!

RIP Ziggy Stardust

"Oh no love! you're not alone
You're watching yourself but you're too unfair
You got your head all tangled up but if I could only make you care
Oh no love! you're not alone
No matter what or who you've been
No matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain
You're not alone"

"Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" -David Bowie

Again I woke up this morning to sad news from the musical world.  I opened my Facebook news feed and I saw a ton of posts about the death of David Bowie.  I immediately thought this is a hoax its not true so I started trying to look into it more and more and all I could find was this was true.  How can it be?  Didn't David Bowie just release an album how could he be dead? 

Blackstar was released on January 8th, 2016.  Now in all fairness I had not listened to it but in my many times of searching around iTunes I had seen that there was a new album.  Immediately when I heard the news my mind started playing the songs and lyrics through my head.  I have said that my brain is full of worthless musical knowledge and song lyrics but moments like this send all those sounds and words flooding into my mind.

Tonight when I got home I pulled up "Space Oddity" on my phone and showed my 5 year old son the video.  David Bowie in all his glory with red fire hair sitting with a guitar singing about Major Tom.  I have loved this song from the very first time I heard it.  I do not know why but it has resonated with me.  It is simple and acoustic but the lyrics tell a vibrant story.  I could always sing along with it and always wanted to learn how to play it on my guitar.  I even bought a book of guitar music for the sole reason that it had this song in it.  Sadly I have never learned how to play it but maybe someday.

David Bowie was Art in its true form.  He was Art, he lived Art and I am thankful that he was never afraid to show this.  He released 27 total studio albums.  Let that sink in for just a little bit, 27 studio albums.  He was relentless in his music and lyrics.  He stated that when he created Ziggy Stardust that he had committed himself so much to this persona that it actually was making him ill and that he was questioning his sanity. 

His voice has an amazing quality to it and when you hear a song you can almost immediately say that is David Bowie.  Even tonight I was watching the "Lazarus" video again and my wife said that still sounds like him.  I thank him for being willing to show the world who he really was and not being afraid of criticism or not fitting the mold.  He said in an interview with Rolling Stone "A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices,  It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle,  The rock stars have assimilated all kinds of philosophies, styles, histories, writings and they throw out what they have cleaned from that."

I for one love David Bowie's music and if you have not listened to any before please do yourself a favor and go find some and listen to it.  Take it in let the sound and lyrics resonate with you.  Listen to the story and allow yourself to go on the adventure with him.  

Well all the people have got their problems
That ain't nothing new
With the help of the good Lord
We can all pull on through
We can all pull on through
Get there in the end
Sometimes it'll take you right up and sometimes down again

"It Ain't Easy"-David Bowie