My Music (Meme) Monday

I've been memed again, this time it's from Joe at Shut Up and Teach. And it's musical!

1. Music Files on My Computer: 3188 files, 12.46 GB. And those are just the songs I like from the CDs I own.
   
2. Last CD bought: I bought both Rapture and Glencree from Peter Mulvey when we saw him live last month. Those were the two I have been missing, and I finally just went ahead and got them.
   
3. Song playing now: I actually am not listening, but let's fire up the ol' iTunes and see what pops up . . . Looks like it's "Killing the Blues," from Shawn Colvin's Cover Girl, one of the live recordings from that record. I think I also have a live version of this song by Chris Smither.
   
4. Five songs that mean a lot to me: I started with a list of nearly 40. Then I had to keep paring . . . So, in alpha order:
   • "16 Days," from Whiskeytown's Strangers Almanac. This kind of sums up my whole alt-country fetish--it stands in for the Jayhawks, Old 97s, Neko Case, Wilco, Son Volt, and so on. But I particularly love this song: the pedal steel, the harmony, the fiddle (I've often thought about placing a personal ad: Ryan Adams type seeks Caitlin Cary type. Under the "Musicians Wanted" section, of course).
     
   • "Been There, Done That," from Jon Svetkey, now of The Loomers (he's second from the right). This one is here to both cover that whole Boston/ new folk/ singer-songwriter slice of my music collection, but also because I learned more of my guitar style from Jon than anyone else. Sadly, few people have ever seen both me and Jon play to verify this.
     
   • "Gentle Arms of Eden," from Drum Hat Buddha, by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. Clearly, the most spiritual song ever written about evolution. Dave Carter here stands in for all the great singer-songwriters who left earth way too early (especially considering that people like David Lee Roth are still alive)--Townes van Zandt, Woody Guthrie, Stevie Goodman, Nick Drake, even all the way back to Joe Hill.
     
   • "May Day Cafe," from If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now, by the Nields. This song should be number one on the pop charts forever. It's timeless, in both lyric and tune, with a great part for a horn section and a boucy hook. So this song covers all the alternative pop out there; even though the Nields do get folky most of the time, when the whole band was working (before that divorce, there), no one could do it better. That whole album is a masterpiece.
     
   • "Melissa," from the Allman Brothers Band's Eat a Peach. This one has to stand in for all the classic rock and southern rock of my childhood. (I've always liked Dickie Betts's stuff better than any of the Allmans'.) But count under this song everything I listen recorded before 1975.
     
     Honorable mentions go to "A Long and a Restless Day," by Bill Camplin; "The Ocean," by Dar Wiliams (beautifully covered by the aforemetioned Peter Mulvey on Ten Thousand Mornings); "3000 Miles," by Ellis Paul; "The Only Way," by Mark Erelli; "Badge," by Clapton/ Cream; "Waiting for the Sun," by the Jayhawks; "Crazy Dreams," the Lucy Kaplansky version; "King of all of the World," by the Old 97s; "Long Ride Home," by Patty Griffin; "Me and That Train," by Patty Larkin; "Holy Now," by Peter Mayer; "Midwife," by the again-mentioned Peter Mulvey; "A Crooked Line," by Darryl Purpose; "Transit," by Richard Shindell; "Like Bonsai," by Susan Werner.
   
   
5. Pass this on to five others: Well, I've already passed one meme on this week. But I can do it again!
   • Jason, something to worry about besides moving.
     
   • Joel, to get him to update his blog already.
     
   • Big Dan, something to worry about besides cancer.
     
   • Jonathan, to sneak in among the lovely photographs and Bush Jokes.
     
   • The other Scott, who may have been sad it was Scott S. who got memed last time.
     
     I was going to give it to Shari, but apparently she was the one who gave it to Joe . . .