Thoughts of Jim Croce Tonight & Favorite Singers

I'm a huge Jim Croce fan. My friend Larry will attest to this fact, as he is also a big Jim Croce fan. Tonight while I was playing poker online, I was listening to launch.com and they played a song by him, so I did a search and found the official Jim Croce website. What a terrific find. There's a video there of Croce performing "Operator" live that just about transcends the medium. It's far better than what you even should be able to watch and listen to on a computer, and I just watched and listened to the song in a kind of open-mouthed wonder.

Who are some of my other favorite singers these days? John Prine is right up there toward the top of the list. I love Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin very much too. Neil Diamond is terrific. Lately I've been listening to quite a bit of Gordon Lightfoot too. As far as country music goes, I couldn't imagine life without Willie Nelson, or Merle Haggard, or Chris Ledoux. (And yeah, I did cry when he passed away.)

Some of the local talent here in Texas that I truly love: Brian Houser, Brian Burns, Max Stalling, Chris Wall. If you're interested in a list of Americana musicians, the Beer Bytch has a pretty neat list of artists available too. (I was lucky enough to dance with the Beer Bytch one night at the Top Rail Saloon about five years ago. I'm sure she doesn't remember me.)

Anyway, I guess tonight's post is just stream of conscious nothingness, but I guess there's room for some of that on the internet too. Funny thing...I was reading on Roger Ebert's website the other day about how movies can enrich our lives, not just help us get through them, and that's kind of how I'm feeling about music tonight.