LISTENING TO NPR

So I've been listening to NPR's list of 100 most important American musical works of the twentieth century and I must say they're pretty good. I found it while clicking on links at NPR. The programs aired in the year 2000. So I guess it would make sense to have a list like that at that time.

The segments are well produced, the guests and hosts are good as well. As guests they've had people like James Taylor, Loretta Lynn, Arlo Guthrie, Al Green, Ray Charles and Paul Simon. So you can't go wrong with guests like that. Although, the host who interviewed James Taylor for the song Fire and Rain did treat James like he might bust out crying at any moment. I know the song is autobiographical about a painful time in his life, but that was forty years ago. I'm sure James has learned to cope with it by now. And maybe even humorously. James is an amusing guy and anyone who's been to one of his concerts would know this.

My favorite guest so far has been Rodney Crowell for Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line. Rodney is a Grammy winning Country music artist. He was once married to Rosanne Cash, who is Johnny's daughter. I haven't listened to all of the stories yet. So my favorite might change. One of the things I liked about Rodney was his description of Cash's voice. He said something like, if any one of those faces on Mount Rushmore could sing, it would come out singing like Johnny Cash. I thought that was a pretty descriptive way of putting it, and probably quite true. Of course, if those sculptures could talk, they would sound like James Earl Jones.

I've learned a few things from the programs which could be used on the podcasts. One of them being to have a point of view. This definitely makes the stories more interesting. I'll keep you posted on other stories that grabbed my attention. Till next time.