musical marvels

I'm starting to realize that I might write about The Civil Wars more than anything else. Seriously, they are probably one of my top three subjects written about most frequently. That's fine by me.

So this weekend, they destroyed all odds at the Grammy Awards! I'm so proud of them.

www.grammy.com

They won Best Country Duo/Group Performance against the likes of big names Jason Aldean, Kelly Clarkson and Kenny Chesney. What an amazing feat for these relatively new guys!

They also beat out artists like Gillian Welch, Eddie Vedder, and Fleet Foxes for Best Folk Album. That's so freaking huge. They deserve it more than anything - especially since they weren't even expecting to get nominated!

I'm also thrilled for Adele for showing the world how it's done winning six awards (I think she won every category she was nominated for), and for Bon Iver winning Best New Artist! The term "new" is relative, but whatevs. The world is finally noticing how awesome he is.

Oh, and I just learned that Joy Williams (pictured above) and her husband/manager Nate Yetton are expecting their first child! Props for bringing more musicians into this world.

If you aren't familiar with The Civil Wars or only learned of them yesterday - time to get caught up.

Have a musical Monday!

reunions

This weekend, I had two very important reunions.

1. Have you read this book?

{by lois lowry}

No, seriously. Have you read this book.

If you have, it was most likely in 5th or 6th grade. And if not, then why the heck not? 

I don't know if we can be friends if you haven't read this book.

Just kidding.

But it's amazing.

It's a Newbury Medal winner for crying out loud! 

And she's a Boston author! Cambridge, MA, what what.

Don't mock that it's for like 7-12 year olds, because this is a mega-intense book. 

No joke. Waaay deeper than a seven-year-old.

Actually, we gifted this to our six-year-old nephew for Christmas and that may have been premature.

But I decided it was time for a re-read and it only took a few hours. It's only 180 pages long but it's so worthwhile. My love is renewed. Do yourself a favor and take this stroll down memory lane. 

No pun intended. 

Didn't get the pun? 

Then you should read the freaking book.

2. I used to play the saxophone. 

I played nearly every day for nine years and then there was college.

And I was scared to try out for the jazz ensemble because there were college boys who played the sax. 

And they were scary good.

So that was that, and I'm mad that I was a big fat baby because I totally could have played with them. 

But as a gift to my father-in-law this weekend (who loves the jazz like I do), I busted her out and played.

For the first time in four years.

Wowza.

But it was so wonderful. It was like being reunited with an old friend.

An old dirty friend who hasn't bathed in four years but you love her anyway.

I think that I'd like to spend more time with her again. Another love renewed.

In conclusion: your homework assignments are to read The Giver and listen to John Coltrane.

Class dismissed.

can't get enough

I seriously can't have too much Christmas music. I'm the one who would willingly start listening to it long before Thanksgiving, and you'd need to force me to shut it off sometime after New Year's. I hate saying good-bye.

I work at a college so Christmas break is nice and quiet for us - bye students! Enjoy your ridiculously long break that I covet so much. But with their absence comes a few good things for the faculty and staff.

1. better food because they're cooking for fewer people.

2. plenty of open tables (the good ones).

3. Pandora can become louder because we're all alone!

Now that I've cranked up the tunes, check out some of my favorites this year and look em' up!

What are your favorites? Am I missing any must-haves?

Enjoy & be merry.

whirlwind weekend

Whoa, where on Earth have I been? I've been so MIA lately! This weekend was jam-packed, and last week I was on a time crunch to finish my Christmas card orders by my self-induced deadline. But they were all printed successfully and look beautiful! Thanks so much to everyone who ordered!

Do you ever have those weekends that soar by and have close to zero moments of relaxation? If we could just have one more day to recover from the madness!

Friday we...

 saw this guy at the House of Blues:

[via Jess Baumung Photography]

Dallas Green of "City and Colour"

He's Canadian, he's hilarious, and oh so talented. See the post I featured him on here and check out his music!

Saturday we...

- Sold my car! We're now a one car family, folks.

- Got our first Christmas tree! It's adorable and I'm seriously in love. It's perfect. Photos to follow.

- Made a wreath. I love making wreaths and having pine-sappy hands. No sarcasm. It's great.

hiiiii wreeeaath.

- Cleaned the house like mad. Pine needles everywhere.

- Baked a blueberry pie.

- Baked two batches of the world's best cookies with the help of friends. You must try these lemon cookies.

yum yum yum.

Life-changers.

- Had a Christmas party with almost 30 friends - wowza! Big success, tons of fun.

Sunday we...

- Went to the advent service at church. Every week of advent is in total darkness with just candles. Very cool.

- Had my dad and step-mom over to see our new place!

- Went to Latitude 43 for lunch with them - used a sweet coupon. Thanks, Eversave.

- Made Ghirardelli hot cocoa with milk on the stove. Unreal.

- Played Christmas music on my guitar!

- Were woken up at 3:30AM by a little guy who had snuck into our room through a hole in our wall behind our radiator. He looked like this:

Meet the northern flying squirrel. He was cold and really wanted to snuggle with my cozy hub, evidently. Will felt him scurry on the bed from his head region own to his feet. No offense dear, but I'm so glad it wasn't on my side of the bed. He's awfully cute, but I would have like passed out. At least he wasn't doing this when I saw him:

That's a lot less endearing. The state I saw him in was far cuter. 

So then Will spent some time trying to coax him out the door - luckily our bedroom has a door that leads to an outside staircase!

We were probably back asleep - safely on our couch - around 5AM.

And with that, Monday held a sick day for me. Sometimes your body just doesn't appreciate being that busy! But that was our weekend, in a nutshell. No pun intended... squirrels... love it.

Hope your weekend was packed with fun, but relaxing as well!

a musical announcement

Dear music fans and supporters of local bands! This one is for you.

If you haven't heard of Glass America, you're missing out. 

For fans of Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Ros, you must must give a listen to the talented guys of Glass America. Their sound is so deep and moving and their songs are wonderfully intricate. You can tell that they've been working on this second album tediously for months. I actually have the pleasure of knowing them in real life, and trust me, they've been slaving over it and it's a masterpiece.

They can be light and dreamy one minute, yet strong and forceful the next. Their brilliant instrumentation keeps me on the edge of my seat, and I know you won't be disappointed. 

Their new album Fathom is officially released today! You can find it on iTunes, Amazon mp3, or at glassamerica.bandcamp.com. Or you can also stream it live on Spotify if that's more your style. Look them up and let me know what you think! 

Happy Weekend!

What's on our weekend agenda? 

WELL.

My parent's decided to do this really sweet thing where instead of one huge gift, we get one small wedding gift every month for the first year. How fun is that, right? It's like every month has a birthday, shared with someone who I think is really great :)

So this month's present involves spending more time with some old friends.

Remember these guys?

Oh yeeeah. Saw them in concert back in February (and it was incredible, read the review), and Will and I get the pleasure to see The Civil Wars tonight! He hasn't seen them live before, so I'm thrilled for him. And I'm even more thrilled for me, because I already know what we're in for. It will be amazing.

We're also meeting up with a dear friend from CT who is coming up for the show! We'll have dinner, reconnect and love on each other. Haven't seen her since she was in our wedding 4 months ago. A travesty.

And finally, we're moving once again. Yes, a big weekend for the Baldwins. It's only a ten minute move,  but we're really really looking forward to it. Why you ask? Oh, just the view from our new backyard is all...

We are blessed.

Enjoy your weekends! Any fun plans?

the most glorious union.

Will and I witnessed a most glorious union last night. The most glorious besides that of he and I, in my humble opinion. Here's how it went down:

This indie artist moved to Boston.

He had been playing the cd of an artist from Cambridge 

non-stop and absolutely loved it. He adored her voice

and slightly idolized her. He got a gig at a bar,

and she was in the front row watching.

This indie artist was so surprised to see him, because she had also

been following his career, becoming obsessed with his new cd.

They met after the show, started writing music,

& fell in love.

Ten years later, they're married with two kids, 

four full-length albums, and they tour the world.

They're my favorite, they're The Weepies.

Deb and Steve, thanks for coming back home to Boston and putting on the most fabulous 

acoustic evening.  

You are wonderful, and even more so to me now that you've dazzled me live and in person.

So incredibly impressive. Raw talent & uniquely fun.

Please never ever stop writing, touring, and being adorable.

In Review

About a week ago, my dear brother and I ventured into the city on quite possibly the coldest evening this winter to see the wonder that is The Civil Wars. The biting cold wind on my neck and the near loss of my lips was worth it to hear even just one minute of their serenades in that tiny Red Room.

The opening act was just average, but with a killer mandolin player. As entertaining as he was, I was antsy and eager for them both to scoot so we could get on with it. In between sets, I saw John Paul White standing in the corner and I nearly bubbled over with excitement.

When the two emerged, John Paul was wearing a slate blue suit with a white striped shirt and a patterned tie, and Joy was wearing a short, black, velvet dress with a lace neckline and an aqua sash tied into a big bow behind her. Her hair was down and curled and she donned these deadly four-inch black heels with an ankle strap that I didn't even understand. She was crazy to stand up there in those bad boys for over an hour.

They opened with "20 Years" which was an unexpectedly slow start, but it picked up shortly thereafter when "Barton Hollow" was their third of fourth title. All of a sudden, Joy's monstrous heels made sense as she bashed the ground for effect on that syncopated downbeat. No bass drum? No problem. This song. changed. everything. The crowd suddenly felt electrically charged as those harmonies, so unrestrained but precise, rang through our ears and bounced off of those close walls. It was awe-inspiring and Tony and I just looked at each other laughing.

That happens sometimes. Peoples' jaw-dropping talent can leave you so struck that you laugh. Isn't that weird? It happens at John Mayer shows for us too - specifically when we witnessed the most out-of-this-world drum solo that we ever heard for over sixty measures.

Anyway, we laughed at John Paul and Joy's perfect musical union together and shook our heads in disbelief. The evening carried on in this fashion for over an hour until they finally closed with "Poison & Wine." Of course. It was organic and stunning, as we all expected, and the bowed to our clapping for minutes on end...

Only to return and play "Billie Jean" as an encore. So unforeseen and fabulous.

The show was this grand force to be reckoned with musically, but they were also hilarious as individuals. Their stage presence was almost too good. It made me a little uncomfortable to watch them interact the way that they did, knowing that they were both married to other people. It works wonders for their music but it makes me a tad concerned for their personal lives. But besides that, John Paul White was hysterical with this dry, careless sense of humor that he would slip in from time to time just to keep us on our toes, and Joy was always so quick to laugh.

Overall, The Civil Wars are the best duo since The Weepies for me, and the live experience only solidifies the threat they are to other American folk duos. Watch out everyone, these two are on the up and up and can't be stopped. If you ever get the opportunity, rearrange your life to see them.

The search is over.

I apologize for not sharing music in quite some time, but this will make up for it. I have found the only sound you ever really need to hear for the rest of your life. Truly.

The Civil Wars are the duet of Joy Williams (contemporary Christian artist from about 10 years ago, anyone?) and Alabama native John Paul White. Their first full-length album called "Barton Hollow" is due out in February, but the EP and free Christmas downloads have left my falling off the edge of my seat in anticipation.

Their songs are so raw, with no superfluous instruments used - usually just one piano or one guitar - and the lyrics are quite literally haunting. Their harmonies are stunning only made better by the unique tonality of their voices.

Their biggest song "Poison & Wine" appeared on an episode of Grey's Anatomy and Taylor Swift called them "exquisite." Can't argue with that.

Listen to Poison & Wine and Barton Hollow please, and then explore from there. You absolutely will not regret it.

PS: My awesome bro Tony also got us tickets to see these guys in February for Christmas - on top of the other special and generous gifts he gave me. Whatta guy. He always spoils me so.

PPS: Johnny Depp much?

Because I live by the sea...

I should invest in a fitting and appropriate light fixture such as this...

It's from Anthropologie (just like the item featured in my last "awaken" post), and I think it's so great. Tony has a buoy lamp that we scored yard-saling that would compliment this piece wonderfully.

It also makes me want to listen to this song, which I just put on now since it's fresh on the brain: The Wailin' Jennys - Saucy Sailor

The Wailin' Jennys will be feautured in a future "tune in" post, so be on the look out for that. They're good fun.

Singin' a different tune.

And by that, I mean that you should start singin' these tunes. I'm also going to start tagging posts with "music" for music that I think not enough of my peers know about. There is no better place to start than with...

City and Colour

Canadian folk artist Dallas Green (Get it? A city and a color... what quick wit.) records under the name City and Colour and his music is undoubtedly in my top favorites. His first album called Sometimes was released in 2005 but re-released in 2009, and his second album called Bring Me Your Love was released in 2008. 

His sound is folk/acoustic, and very melodic and catchy. Songs like "The Girl" and "Save Your Scissors" will be stuck in your head all day, while songs like "Comin' Home" and "Constant Knot" are like a sweet serenade.

Please check him out. You won't be disappointed.