Mystery man
Burnett, like Bob Dylan, seems omnipresent in popular culture but guards his offstage life with such care that he remains largely a mystery.
The all-important question: Sufjan’s ‘Wasp of the Palisades’
I remember listening to this song for the first time and thinking, Wait, is this gay? The kiss, the insistent “we were in love” refrain … but surely not.
We seem to ‘Want It Darker’
In rock music, especially in the performance arena, there is no room for prayer, but I think that so many of the songs people write are prayers. A lot of my songs seem to be prayers for unity within myself. … L... Read More...
Discs spinning
Asgeir sent my husband and me on a Norwegian music bender. Here's a short list of the music that's been both background and fuel for my sermon preparation and work the last few months.
Ladies and Gentlemen, my tribute to Merle Haggard
Exiled Adam needs a music that, while it doesn't relish or glorify life east of Eden, at least acknowledges its complexities, a music that owns his complicity for his miserable state.
Who do you want to be?
Who we vote for, and who we elect as a society, may not be the most important thing, but it does say something about how we see ourselves, and who we want to be.
Sufjan blessed my year
I was a big Sufjan fan about ten years ago, but I forgot about him for a while. I was called back to my senses with the release of Carrie and Lowell.
Henryk Górecki and the surprise of religious art
What audiences hear or feel in the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs may simply be the presence of a spiritual dimension in the work, like a door deliberately left open.