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Day One Hundred Sixty Six (Year Two)

So, I picked up the Tender Mercies record today.  It's quite spectacular.  There were a few things on it that I knew ("Wise Blood," "Four White Stallions," "Mercy") from Counting Crows bootlegs and overseas releases, but even having those touchstones, the record still impresses me.  It comes across as a bunch of guys sitting around in their living rooms, playing songs they've played for years, except that it has a cleaner, more thought out sound than most living room records I've ever heard.  Even Dan Wilson's "Free Life" from 2007 feels more "studio record" than this.  It's good though, because the musicianship and the songcraft shine through.  The band features 1/3 (I think) of Counting Crows, in the persons of Dan Vickrey and Jim Bogios. 

The coolest part of the record?  The fact that I got to pull out the acoustic tonight after I got home and play along with "Four White Stallions."  I really, really love that song.  When live shows start becoming a part of my life, that song will definitely find its way into my setlists somewhere.

I've loved "Wise Blood" since I heard it on an old Counting Crows live record, and having it on this album let me sit down with the guitar and start to learn it.  The song's in A.

And then there's "Mercy."  It's a song I otherwise only have as a live performance from a Counting Crows show, so having a studio version is nice.  This song, more than the other two I messed around with tonight, lends itself to opening up a bit and doing some soloing, and that's exactly what I did.  It was fun to both try and harmonize with the lines that were already there, and then fun to try and learn a bit of what they actually recorded.  Whether the lead lines will stick in my memory remains to be seen, but still.

All in all, a good night for music.

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