Sara Bareilles - City

Sara Bareilles is an up-and-coming pianist, whose music goes something along the lines of my previous recommendations of Amy Seeley and Vienna Teng. Young female pianists with wonderful voices.

We're not getting tired of it, right?

She's still on her first album, (with the obligatory song entitled "Gravity"), but she's becoming noticed very quickly. She's already had a song featured in a movie, but people might, just might, be discovering music other than her highlight single entitled "Love Song."

"City" is among the quieter tracks from her album Little Voice (a hint of humility, no?), and is one of those wonderful, personal, reflective songs that truly seems to give you a glimpse into Sara's life.

This one should be the single.

Amy Seeley - Gravel Lines

Good evening.

For the first edition of Channel AK, I'm bringing to your attention Amy Seeley, a talented pianist currently living in Canada.

I first ran across this song on a photographer's website, who had it as the background music within a slideshow. It's quiet; a tune that could be the soundtrack to a winter afternoon with a light snow falling. Poetic, I know. The pure, beautiful simplicity of a woman and her piano shines through in her music. Tell me, when was the last time you really heard a song with one instrument and one vocalist?

She has a few free tracks available at her website for download.

Especially recommended if you like:

• Tori Amos
  
• Lisa Loeb

Mission Statement

Six or seven years ago, I used to enjoy listening to the radio. Stated as simply as possible, they played songs I enjoyed hearing.

Sadly, FM radio has gone into a sad state of decline. Given that fewer and fewer people are tuning in, opting instead for iPods, Pandora, or satellite radio, stations are having to run more commercials (which aren't exactly harmonious) to make up for their decreased reach. If that wasn't a big enough problem, they don't seem to be playing music up to the quality of years past.

That's what this blog is all about. Great music isn't far away, and it's my goal to help you discover some new personal favourites.

Tune in every Tuesday and Friday evening for a new, rarely-heard recommendation from my music library. Maybe you'll sample the clip on iTunes. Maybe you'll love it and buy the disc on Amazon. Maybe you'll find that we don't share similar musical tastes. I don't condone this, but maybe you'll just steal it.

My aim is to do a better job of introducing you to new songs, artists, and genres than FM radio does.

And once I do that, maybe I'll try challenging myself a little.