Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Pilgrimage



I certainly don’t hate the internet. I wouldn’t be here if I did. But, in the progress that the internet represents, something was lost.

Tower records was a Mecca of music, popular and obscure. But for me the fun of a trip to Tower was finding obscure music magazines. I know that you can find any magazine you can imagine on line, but you can’t form the same kind of impression that you when you hold it in your hand and flip through the pages. Sometimes, even the quality of the paper would influence my decision On what would prove to be my last visit to Tower, I found Pop Culture Press and Texas Music magazine. Pop Culture Press had a sampler CD, and I had to have it for that reason, as well as for the articles.

Of course, magazine sampler CDs are a crapshoot, especially if you are buying the magazine itself on spec. But I did make one discovery. Her name is Cindy Woolf, and the short description of her style, accoustic country, doesn't do her justice. The band includes drums, stand-up bass, accoustic guitar and fiddle. She has one of those sweet Texas voices somewhere between Nanci Griffith and Iris Dement. I like the fact that the bass is featured in the mix, so that you know its a stand-up and not an electric. The sampler has a tune called "In the Attic," and I also found an MP3 of "All About You" on her label's website.

Cindy Woolf: In The Attic

Cindy Woolf: All About You

[purchase]

1 comments:

Alex said...

I have many happy memories of Tower Records (both the Sunset Blvd. and Greenwich Village locations) and all the wonderful music there. When they were going out of business, I went a few times, but couldn't find anything I cared about (even for 50 or 60% off).