spreading the love (with a giveaway at the end!)

The first chord I heard of Ray LaMontagne’s I was hooked and then I heard his voice and lyrics and I was in love. I played him for Jake and he said, “He sounds like Van Morrison or Elvis Costello or something.” My reply was, “yeah, but way better!” His songs make me feel something so deeply. (And we get to see him next month live! Yippee!)

It’s great to find someone who has a familiar sound, a sound that you’ve always loved and keep going back to, but they’ve made the sound better than the original. (Did that make sense?) That’s how I feel about Johnny Lloyd Rollins. I got introduced to his music through one of my best friends in High School (he’s her brother!) and now I’m a drooling, adoring fan.

I’ll give you a few links if you want to check him out…click here for yummy video of him performing Let's Be Poor Together, here to go to his myspace and listen to more music, here to go to his website, and of course youtube has lots of videos to choose from.

Here’s what a few critics have said about him:

"He's been compared to Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and, of course, a young version of the King. That's just it. You can't pin him down."--Jenny Block, D Magazine

"It's like the tunes of Buddy Holly, Elvis and Roy Orbison in a blender set on puree."--Shannon Sutleif, Dallas Morning News

"He puts a Beatles-y twist on Texas roots songs, or perhaps vice versa, with a penchant for smart lyrics and even smarter chord changes."--Jonanna Widner, The Dallas Observer

Beatles, Smeatles, they’ve got nothing on Johnny in my book. Way to take the great from the classics and put a modern twist on them to make them even better, Johnny!

Johnny recently sent me a couple CDs and I thought I would share the love. If you’d like to win his CD, Let’s Be Poor Together, just leave a comment in the comments section before Monday (9/29) morning at 12:00am and you’ll be in the drawing. Good luck!