Can't Stop Listening to Great Old Music

A few weeks ago, I discovered the larger version of Amazon Music, which has gazillions of songs, artists, and albums, for a reasonable monthly fee. I started with a South African father-and-daughter team I'd been listening to, Adrian and Emma-Jean Galliard. Andrea Boccelli and other singers soon followed.

Tracking down a Beatles song took me to the fab four themselves. Then I happened to notice several musicians I had listened to many years ago: David Lanz (Cristofori's Dream), Ray Lynch (Deep Breakfast, No Blue Thing ), Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel, Kitaro, and more. I loved meeting up with this music again and I was surprised at how many of the pieces I could still hum along with. If there were words, I usually knew many of them.

So now I have a habit of listening twice most days. I take a nap after lunch, and that is a good time to play around with new tracks for a while. In the evening, I typically go to bed about an hour before my husband Kelly. I had been reading until he joined me, but now I'm listening to music. I do need to select more relaxing tracks if I want to fall asleep easily.

Kelly and I watched a Ken Burns series on jazz on PBS, and then one on country music. Kelly's forte is jazz, as he grew up playing it. I added the album Ella and Louis to my playlist. While listening to the country series, I added Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash to my playlist. Then I discovered that they had done a lot in a group called the Highwaymen, with Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings.

Other musicians I've recently been playing include the singer-pianist Diana Krall, Santana, Nat King Cole, Pentatonix, and Josh White,. There isn't much classical on my list right now, but at times in my life I've played a lot of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.

Well, I could keep mentioning musicians I'm enjoying, but this isn't just a list. I do want to say how uplifting I'm finding it to be listening to all this music. I don't much like to listen to music when I'm writing, as it distracts me, but to make time for it is great.

Yesterday I came across the great Rogers and Hammerstein hit South Pacific, and tonight we are going to watch the film online. I saw it when I was a kid, and I recognize most of the words. This will probably lead to Oklahoma and other shows.

What music do you listen to? And why?