BUY THIS ALBUM!

Ok, I can't give any better recommendation than the fact that I did buy this album, even though I'm supposed to be getting a free copy in the mail.  (You can still send it Mary, I bought it on ITunes and would still enjoy having a physical copy of the album.)  I've been excited about this album for awhile now, even before she decided to record it.

The album is Mary Lasseigne's Mary Jane and the Brian Surgeon.

I first became a fan of Mary Lasseigne when I saw her singing background for other acts.  She been around for awhile now, singing as part of a group or doing backups with such artists as Susan Cowsill or Paul Sanchez.  For a brief while she was a member of Cowboy Mouth.

This is pop music at its best.  Mary has a wonderful voice and her music is as good if not better than anything out there right now.  While the music bounces the lyrics deal with love lost, parents missed and memories of Katrina.

Till now she's been content to be in the background.  To be a member of a group.  I hope this won't be the only solo album we see from her.  Coming up soon will be our first full length Voices to hear interview and Mary Lasseigne will be our first interviewee.

Contest # 1: What Music Means to You

This post is going to stay up at the top of the page for the next month, but there is lots of new stuff going on down below so check it out!

We're featuring our first ever contest on Voices to hear and boy are we excited! We don't get a lot of comments so I'm hoping that this contest motivates some of you out there to talk to us. In keeping with the theme of Sunday, which is the group Assembly of Dust, this contest was conceived from an answer that Reid Genauer gave to a question. His answer is

I know this is a potentially controversial thing to say but I believe music is like religion for many people. It’s not an either or decision (although for some it is) but it gives us hope, something to believe in, something to inspire us, somewhere to hide when the day beating you down, something to belong to. I think it is a powerful part of our culture

This parallels some of my own thoughts on music. Back when I was talking about Bruce Springsteen's appearance at the first Jazz Fest after Hurricane Katrina I had this to say.

I'm not a religious person and I have never gotten what such a person gets from going to church, until this show. This might be the closest I have come to finding my religion. I've always thought music was the closest I've come to following a religion and today I was in church.

So the topic of this contest is: What does music mean to you? Is it something to just act as background noise to your life or does it mean more to you than that. I have a feeling if you're reading this site music means something important to you. So in the comments leave a post as long or as short as you want and tell us what music means to you. I'll pick, I won't say the best, because in this case there isn't a best or worst, it's what moves you, but I'll pick the post that moves me the most and the winner will receive Assembly of Dust's newest album Some Assembly Required. It's a great album so it's worth taking the time and commenting. We'll let the contest run for the next month, so don't make me look dumb here and not have any comments, tell me what you think.

SONG OF THE WEEK

This week we present another New Orleans native John Boutte. Every year John gets more praise as more people recognize how good he is. The first Jazz Fest after Katrina he gave one of the most powerful shows of the event. Combine Sam Cooke with Nat King Cole and throw in a gumbo of New Orleans sounds and experiences and you might get someone like John Boutte. Here he is singing "City of New Orleans."

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