Be here now

This week’s challenge was to find new (interesting, inspiring) music and listen to it everyday for a week (and sing along).  I finally settled in on Ray Lamontagne’s Gossip in the Grain.  I got quite a few recommendations from people (thanks everyone!) and I spent Monday evening on iTunes listening to snippets of as many as I could before deciding that Ray Lamontagne was the kind of mellow I was in the mood for.  That, and he had a song titled, “Be here now.”  I think that tipped the scales for me a bit.

Here’s how I got to know and love Ray.  Tuesday and Wednesday he played in the background while I worked on my exams.  Then Thursday when I had finished work for the day, I sat at Barnes and Noble and just listened while looking up the lyrics for each of the songs and reading them as he sang.  I like to know lyrics.  It makes me feel like I know the music better.  Then, Friday I played him as I did some more reading for exams, singing along as much as I could remember (which started to distract me from my reading… ).  Saturday and Sunday there was no listening, but I feel like I got to know some new music and that was the point.  My favorite song on the album is, I think, “Winter Birds.”  So lovely.  I was even motivated enough to look up where he was touring.  He’s not touring anywhere near Ohio this summer, but he is touring with David Gray.  Sigh.  Here’s my favorite lyric from this album (and from the song “Be here now”):

Don’t let your mind get weary and confused
Your will be still, don’t try
Don’t let your heart get heavy child
Inside you there’s a strength that lies

Appropriate for this exam process, no?