Surprised?

Well, most people would peg me as someone who listens mainly to R&B and for the most part, that’s true. However, spending part of my childhood in a small, country town, that good ole country music is bound to hit your soul one way or another. As a matter of fact, when I go to visit my parents who still live in that town where I grew up, many days I will wake up to a country song playing on my step-mom’s CD player.

Yes, I do like country music alright…and when I heard Kevin Skinner sing tonight on America’s Got Talent, I was so moved that I started to tear up. A country song has never done that to me before!

Here’s a clip of Kevin Skinner’s performance tonight along with the judge’s comments…

1998: It was a dark moment in my life.

I was going through a rough break-up with a boyfriend. I was trying to figure out what many of us want to know – what the “meaning” of life is. I was trying to figure out my own identity. I felt utterly…and completely…

…lost.

One day I walked into the store to shop for groceries. My mind was numb with sadness. But then, I heard this Michael Jackson song playing…

“…Something whispers in my ear and says
That you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay

But you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart
But you are not alone…”

I heard those words and it gave me a glimmer of hope. I felt The Universe was sending me this message via Michael Jackson…

I was not alone.

To this day I remember that moment – the moment when Michael Jackson was the catalyst to help lift my spirits, as his songs have always done, on a day when I had lost hope.

Thank you for shining your light on this world, Michael. Your music and your spirit will live forever in our hearts.

Watch the video: “You Are Not Alone”

Browsing through the Music Blogs Catalog today, I came across Kim Kinrade’s blog titled “Music Before the Money“.

The title caught my eye because I’m sure many musicians who have become very successful can probably say that they had a love of music before the money came into the picture. Of course you would think Well, it would be nice to make money with my music, but no matter what happens, you still create music. Even if you never get that million-dollar record deal, you still have that love for creating music.

And that’s the beauty of musicians….Rich, poor, young, or old, they continue to create music. It’s rare to come across a musician who gives up playing music just because they don’t make it big.

Thank you to all the musicians out there who share their songs with the world!

Photo Credit: Curran Kelleher

Check out the photos from the gala below…

Here are two of my favorite artists of all time, Mariah Carey and Prince…

And now that we have Twitter, the possibilities are endless.

I read this post, The Best Ways to Discover Music Through Twitter and I’m still blown away by the power that this social networking/media website has in making connections.

My cousin just started using Twitter just so she could follow the New Kids on the Block and connect with other NKOTB fans. I’m not sure why I find that so fascinating…I just do. I remember back in the day writing letters to my favorite musicians and crossing my fingers hoping I would get an autographed photo back. Nowadays we can actually connect one-on-one with an artist.

Not only is Twitter a great tool for musicians to market themselves and interact with their fans, it’s an awesome social media site for people to keep up with other music fans and find out what other people are listening to.

If you’re a music fan and love Twitter, you may want to check out a popular website that combines Twitter and music, Blip.fm. I just signed up for an account – check out the music I’ve been listening to: http://blip.fm/Studio747.

But Kelly Clarkson is the kind that breaks all rules. She perfectly fits the image of a bubblegum pop star while coming off as totally out-of-the-box. She can belt out a ballad in the tradition of Celine Dion but at the same time beat the dickens out of rousing anthems like “Home” and “Hear Me”. In interviews, she’s usually her bubbly self, putting on the aw-shucks face that earned her the distinction of being America’s Sweetheart, but there would be moments when she would transition to someone else, as if in a trance, and say something really insightful about music. For instance, when describing Melissa Etheridge’s voice, she said that it’s the kind of voice that “has really lived.”

Whoever said that Kelly Clarkson is a case study couldn’t have been more precise. Here is someone who stayed strong in the business despite the fickle nature of pop music. How did she manage to weave longevity and a valid career out of her Idol background?

Before she was thrust into the spotlight, Clarkson had experienced just about every woes of a working class family. Her parents divorced when she was six, her family constantly bickered about money issues, and she had to work odd jobs to make ends meet. She tried her in luck in LA in hopes of striking a record deal, only to go home empty-handed after her apartment burned down and her car towed twice all in the course of four days.

Perhaps what makes Kelly Clarkson stick in the business for so long is her street credibility. In an industry where personal tribulations are stretched a bit too far, Clarkson stands out as one of those artists who had real encounters with adversities that ordinary citizens face.

When the likes of Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears croon about their tough luck, you can’t help but be skeptical of the fact that their struggles are nothing more than self-inflicted wounds. But when you listen to Clarkson sing the line, “My life can’t possibly break when it wasn’t even whole to start with,” you know she’s singing about something true and that you’re listening to a human being who had come face to face with the devil. You know that even though her troubles are not as heavy as say, the troubles of someone dying in Africa, you know that her pain is real and that she is doing her best to outlive it.

A hater once said that her music is obnoxious and dark. Maybe that person is right. After all, Clarkson’s strength lies not only in her steely vocals but also in her ability to use this instrument to bring a song into its cathartic conclusion.

Buy Kelly Clarkson’s latest album, “All I Ever Wanted“

When Scott MacIntyre sang Michael Jackson’s “Keep the Faith” during the top 13 round of American Idol, he earned negative remarks from Simon who said he should have chosen a more popular, mainstream tune off of MJ’s catalog. Scott tried to defend his stance, saying that he wanted to be more “artistic” to which Simon blurted out a not-so-subtle condemnation of artistry on the show.

“It’s fine to be artistic,” Simon said, “Just not on this show.” This single, smug statement, however valid, perfectly defines why music in the past 5 years or so has been racing downhill. Kudos to Scott, although his performance is hardly something that would qualify for a more in-depth categorization of the word “artistic,” he managed to elicit a response from Simon that would explain the show’s premise since its inception.

Of course, it is not a hidden truth that American Idol is mainly conceived to serve as a platform for pop stars who would become the driving force of contemporary music and serve as cash cows for the world’s top record companies. But does Simon really have to say such words out loud in public? For all it’s worth, Simon’s words say something more about his lack of artistic taste and greed for moolah. After all, this is from the same guy who said that he sells more records than Bruce Springsteen and who finds Bob Dylan boring.

There is a reason why American Idol has continuously been snubbed by critics of popular music. It is the same age-old case Commerce versus Art argument, only that it has taken a different form and stage. In American Idol, if you dig down and get really deep into your music, showing weird facial expressions and vocal nuances, Simon will call you out of it by saying you’re being “self-indulgent.”

He first used this term when Chris Daughtry covered “Broken”, a serious, sweeping song by Seether and Amy Lee. In Simon’s world, there is no way you can sell records, let alone earn a respectable audience if you sing sublime poetry.

Perhaps Simon is being pragmatic here and what better way to create a win-win situation than to cater to the music of teeny-boppers and soccer moms who comprise a huge chunk of Middle America. After all, it is Middle America who spends money and keeps the music business in top shape.

But somewhere along the way, a lot of that gets lost in the shuffle of exploring the deepest corners of music. Music is a highly volatile medium of human expression that needs to be constantly discovered and should never be confined to the walls of mediocrity and shallow tastes.

From the get-go, American Idol has always been a mere TV show bent on delivering commercial music to the buying public. However, it is the biggest stage there is, it should step up to the plate and consider taking the responsibility of subtly introducing the likes of Brandi Carlisle and Brett Drennen to its core audience. Their music makes our world go round and creates a prism that allows us to see ourselves in a way that we’ve never done before.

This begs the question….Should famous young singers be good role models?

Our better judgment would say that yes, young and famous singers should be good role models for their fans. However, if you really think about it, these young people are human…and humans do make mistakes. Furthermore, as an artist, they are free to be who they are and express themselves how they want to. Sure, it would be nice if every young singer would stay innocent and be good role models for our children, but ultimately it should be up to the parents to be good role models.

Last year I briefly mentioned Twitter in a post titled, The Internet: A Musician’s Good Friend, in which I offered a couple marketing tips for musicians.

I was one of those people who resisted joining Twitter because everyone was saying “all the cool people are doing it”. But seriously, all the cool people are tweeting nowadays. Check out The Pitchfork Guide to Musicians on Twitter.

I could go on and on about how wonderful Twitter is, but it’s up to you to check it out and see for yourself.

Ty Cohen of The Music Biz Center put together a series of videos that tells us what Twitter is all about and how you can use Twitter to market your music. For those of you who are just starting out on Twitter, check out this video…

Bob Baker put together an awesome Twitter Music Promotion & Marketing Guide full of links to resources. Must read!

Resource of Interest: Twitter Traffic Exposed!