Music and more music

This summer is filled with incredible music so far. I saw Rickie Lee Jones on June 19th at the Uptown Theatre in Napa. I got the tickets in February, I think because I was so excited to see the show. RLJ is another person whos music shaped my teen years. Someone had a cassette tape of hers when I was in high school, and the first time I heard it, I was so connected with her. It was her first album, and had a hit single called Chuck E's in Love. That was in 1979. Thirty years and fifteen albums later, she is at her best. Her voice is rich and full and can hit almost every note in the scale, it seems like. She was intimate and open and gave us a great few hours with her. She said she likes to pray a lot, that some of her songs are actually prayers. She also made the comment that "my prayer place is right next to my sex place". I loved that statement. I also love the new album titled "Balm in Gilead" and can't stop listening to it. 

Last night I saw Ruthie Foster for the first time.  I had heard a little about her and then checked her out online. I got such a great feeling about her and her music and I knew this would be an incredible show. It was the small theatre in Mill Valley, the Throckmorton, where a lot of great entertainment happens. I haven't been there in a long time and forgot how much I like it there. 

Ruthie Foster is from Texas and started out singing in her gospel choir when she was small. She now writes and sings her own songs, plus she does some good old blues from the legends and even did a poem by Maya Angelo that she put to music. It was called Phenomenal Woman. It was amazing and almost made me cry. 

The whole show was full of great music that came from the heart and soul and came right through Ruthie. I could not believe that such beautiful sound came out of one human being. The kind that gives you goosebumps and makes you tingly all over. She sings about life and love and spirituality. I am in love with her and can't wait to get more of her music.