You really challenged me with your selections. With this post, I decided to listen to all the music that readers recommended. Some of your choices were a bit more interesting…especially Virgin Black. I did find one I liked called Domine. I also liked David Eugene Edwards singing, The Whistling Girl and I could miss Johnny Cash’s Men in Black! Thanks for introducing me to some music sounds. I imagine Virgin Black puts on one heck of concert:~)

I appreciate many different styles of music, and thus listen to a wide range of artists.

There’s the aforementioned Enya whose celtic stylings have evoked images of ancient forests full of mystery and wonder. She awakens gentleness, curiosity, and my imagination.

There’s the strange, yet compelling vocals of David Eugene Edwards as he muses his way from abstraction to compelling abstraction in bands like 16 Horespower and Wovenhand. Any time I feel emotional dissonance, I listen to him and I usually start to feel okay.

There’s the haunting voice of Rowan London of Virgin Black that goes from operatic to guttural in the space of one song. The operatic tones speak to me of a stubborn refusal to give up hope while in despair, and the guttural roaring often represent the ‘sound’ of the turmoil inside me. This is for when I’m feeling a lot of intense emotions and need a safe outlet for them.

There’s the straightforward rumble of Johnny Cash’s voice; whether he’s singing a spiritual or a murder ballad makes no difference to me. He always seemed to make every song his own, even if he’d never written it in the first place. Yeah, that man owned everything he uttered, and wore his heart on his sleeve. I love him for that.

Really, I could go on and on and on. I don’t close myself off to any form of music if I can help it as I just don’t know what I’ll be moved by next. The voice usually ropes me in first, then the words, and then the instruments – in that order. I don’t know why, but that’s the way it’s been for me ever since I opened my ears to music.

Music puts words and sounds to stuff that I can’t put words and sound to. For that I’ll always be grateful.
.-= Tony Single´s last blog ..From the Archive =-.

A long time favourite of mine is the late (sigh) Dan Fogelberg – particularly his song Nexus.