Samplers were a major influence on me. My entre into singer/songwriter
music came thru:
1. Hearing one John Hiatt song (She loves the Jerk)
2. Going to hear him play at the Bottom Line (with Lyle L, Joe Ely, and Guy
Clark)
3. Buying the CBS Hitchiker II sampler and loving Mary Chapin Carpenter,
Shawn Colvin, and James McMurtry in one fell swoop.
4. Buying Christine Lavin's "On A Winter's Night" CD and loving lots of
those artists.
from there on, I was in free fall, accumulating new favorites almost daily
for a while.
Nowadays the pleasant surprises come a little more slowly, but that's
mainly due to the fact that this group has so well informed about hundreds
of songwriters.
Other great samplers that leap to mind:
Any of the Performing Songwriter CDs
Label samplers from Waterbug, Red House, Tangible, Prime CD, Signature
Sounds, etc
Putamayo Best of Folk Music
Hoot! The folk Next Door
All Ears Review (now defunct, but sometimes in used stores)
the Leak (same complaint)
Fast Folk (CDs and LPs)
Some of the artist tribute CDs
For the love of Todd (Rundgren)
I'm sure that there are zillions more. That's just what I rattled off. I
love samplers and often buy CDs and go to shows because of one great song.
I usually respond better to hearing one great song a number of times than
hearing several good cuts only once, but it's hard to tell. I heard Melissa
Javors do one song (You should have known me) around the campfire at
Kerrville a couple of years ago and have been a huge fan ever since.
but that's just me,
Alan
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Alan Rowoth |"We hold it all for a little while, don't we?
PO Box 307 | Kiss the dice,
Liverpool New York | Taste the rain like little knives upon our tongue.
13088-0307 | We can do no wrong when the lights go on
315.457.0310 ext 251 | and the music plays
315.453.7867 fax | and we take the stage like we own the place
315.474.4800 home | As though time were cheap
alan@folkmusic.org | and the night forever young."
www.folkmusic.org | Beth Nielsen Chapman - "Seven Shades of Blue"