Did this month fly by or what? I swear that Christmas was last week, and here we are heading into March.
Like a lot of folks, things in my life are slowly starting to open back up. I went to 6 shows this month. Almost a normal pace, although nothing feels “normal” these days.
Speaking of shows… If you haven’t heard The Heavy Hours yet, do yourself a favor and go check out these Ohio gents. After talking about them for a year and a half, I finally got to see them live this week, and they were better than I expected. Their new album, Gardens, is on heavy rotation (pun expected, right?) around my place … and my car … and in my headphones. “Skinny Heart” is my favorite right now, but “Back Porch” is in the running…
But, I digress. As promised, I’m trying to keep up my “Mix a month” promise. The February Mix starts slow, but it picks up the pace pretty quickly. Hope you dig it! (Find the Apple Music version here.
Yup, it’s been nearly a year since I’ve written anything here. I think about it … often. I probably have a dozen half-written, orphaned blogs sitting in draft. But like a lot of us, I’m suffering from a serious case of pandemic burn-out, malaise, and general blah.
Blog posts aren’t the only things that have suffered. I haven’t put out any mixes, either. Which I’m sure a handful of you have noticed.
From my best recollection, I’ve been making the Krissie Mix in some way, shape, or form since 2004. I’ve put them out mostly quarterly … Close to 1500 songs shared. For every one, I’ve written crazy “liner notes” to offer up information on the artists or stories about how I found the songs or why I love them. Back in the day, when I burned copies, I mailed them to dozens of people around the country, some of whom I didn’t even know who had just heard about the Mix through friends of friends. Sharing music with friends (and new friends) is something that I love doing.
Once I moved everything to Spotify, it should have gotten easier, but it just made it easier to find lots of new music. And the quarterly mixes started to get super-sized. 50 – 60 songs. But not everyone that listened was on Spotify, so started creating a Spotify and Apple Music version. Writing the liner notes took hours.
Besides, streaming has made it easy for people to discover new music on their own. And I love that! But I started to feel like there wasn’t a reason for me to make them anymore.
So last year…I just stopped.
Then I ran into Samantha and Wes last fall. Friends of a friend, I’ve known them for almost as long as I’ve been making the mix. Fifteen years ago, I would see them often when we were all running around seeing our mutual friend play 4 and 5 times a month. But I’d be lying if I said we were anything more than Facebook friends these days. So when I ran into them at a show in another city, it was a surprise that they even remembered me. As we stood talking and caught up, Wes said something to me about listening to my mixes. It genuinely surprised me.
And re-inspired me.
But, I needed to rethink how I was doing it. So … I’m trying something new in 2022. Monthly mixes. Smaller in size. No liner notes. Not obsessing over the order of the songs (because some people listen on shuffle, anyway… Warmack, I’m looking at you). Just music for the sake of sharing it.
Maybe you’ll find something new to love. Maybe you know all the songs already. No matter what, I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Happy January and happy 2022 (I can still officially say that in January, right?).
I’m only 8 days late getting this out the door for the season, which isn’t too bad. But you should know that I originally intended to put it out in January as a second Winter Mix. So, because that didn’t happen, the Spring Mix is a little longer than usual.
Enjoy the roller coaster ride this playlist will take you on. I recommend cocktails on a patio while listening. Happy Spring!
Although it’s a bit belated, the 2017 Summer Mix is FINALLY ready for your ears. Two hours of songs to make you laugh, cry, and feel alive.
Believe it or not, at one point, it was up to something like 42 songs, so I have done a LOT of editing (although the liner notes sure don’t make it seem that way…they are forever long).
Hope you’re doing all the summer things. It is the best season, after all, isn’t it?
Well, so much for my goal of writing weekly. But, I’m still doing better than last year!
Spring arrived on Monday, and just in time, I’ve finished up my 2017 Spring Mix. Gotta tell ya guys, there’s a SLEW of good music coming out right now. I forced myself to keep this to 30 songs…It was tough.
The notes are lengthy, so if you’ve got a couple of minutes, download them and try to make sense of my rambling.
Hey guys, Happy 4th of July.
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