Sounds For The Soul

Music is an interesting thing for me. It has to hit my heart and my soul in a very specific way. The list that makes it there is a select one. And no one enters without the proper handshake for me. I have to understand the beat combined with the tune combined with the syncopation combined with the melody combined with the harmony combined with the lyrics combined with the..... It all has to fall together just right and be "me".

Like friends - Once you make it onto the A list, you're on for good. But the A list is hard to get on.

A few just soar there instantly. Eva Cassidy is one that made it almost instantly. I first heard her in a cute, antique-y, kitch-y shop in Seattle with friend, B. B fell in love instantly and bought the CD. It took a bit longer from me.

A few months later, was in the car with Bro and same artist was in his CD player. Bro told me the story:

Eva Cassidy died in 1996 at the age of 33 of melanoma before gaining widespread popularity. While almost all of her works were released posthumously, today her soul-stirring voice is reaching people all over the world. Remakes include: Fields Of Gold (Sting), Wade In The Water, Autumn Leaves, Songbird, Time Is A Healer, People Get Ready (Rod Steward and others), Over The Rainbow, Drowning In The Sea Of Love, True Colors, The Water Is Wide, God Bless The Child, Yesterday, and on and on and on and on and on.

NPR has covered her extensively and probably gives the most interesting perspective on her life, death, and repretoire.

Take a listen. She sang just to fill her own heart. She's deep and soulful and introspective and singing just to sing.

Some is stuff you can sing with. Other is just stuff you want to listen to over and over to give your soul a calmness you weren't sure existed in this world. Music, like childrens' laughter, is good proof and a reminder to me that the calm I'm looking for is always there...If I remember to look.

I needed that today. It is a gift for me to be reminded that things like Eva Cassidy and H's laughs will always be there. Long beyond corporate hierarchies, and spreadsheets, and bills, and to do lists, and mortgages.

This is the stuff life is about.