It Pays to be A Zealot

Every once in a while I’ll hand our beloved Folk Alley host Jim Blum a CD I’m excited about and demand that he listen to it. I listen to a lot of new music and folk is just one of the genres I enjoy–so I hit Jim with some pretty odd stuff on occasion. However, he always humors me and listens.

This past week, I stopped Jim, literally, at the door and told him he had to listen to the new CD by Iron and Wine entitled Our Endless Numbered Days. When I started to explain that Iron and Wine is actually just one fellow, a songwriter from Miami (not generally known to produce a lot of folk musicians) named Samuel Bean, who sounds like a combination of Nick Drake, John Martyn, and Tom Waits–and looks like a young Ted Kaczynski–I could tell Jim was getting skeptical.

I continued to press him–the CD is simply awe inspiringly good. Every time I saw Jim, I reminded him to listen. I figured if I couldn’t build is interest, I’d try to wear down his resistance.

Well, today, Jim walked in and stopped me in the doorway, and thanked me for recommending the CD to him. He loves it too. We’re planning to add five cuts to the Folk Alley rotation over the next few weeks.

We receive hundreds of CDs a month here at Folk Alley. It would be easy to get jaded about new music, but (thankfully) that never happens. We just love it too much.

Heard something recently that you’d like to evangelize about? Hit the “Comments” link below and let us know. I’ll gather up the responses and follow Jim around the building reading your suggestions. 😉