Introducing Musical Mondays

http://www.layoutsparks.com/pictures/music-notes-6

I've written about music many times on my blog. It is an important part of my life, my writing, heck, even my sanity. And I've often said that sharing music is a way for me to share love, like a baker wants to share their cookies.

Introducing Musical Mondays. Every Monday, I will share my music of the week. Sometimes it will be brand new music, sometimes hidden tunes that I've uncovered, and other times just an old song that re-appeared begging for a replay. There will be times I will have commentary and other times, I will just give you the music. My music appreciation is far reaching and covers many genres. So, not a fan of this week's pics, stop by next week. :-)

But let's go a step farther. On Musical Mondays, you can also share. What song have you been wearing out that week? What new tune have you uncovered or rediscovered? You can post the link in the comment section, or just the song title and band name, or maybe it is a playlist on Pandora, Songza, or Spotify. Also, please provide feedback, if you'd like. Do you like the songs that I've suggested, hated them, downloaded them? Let me know.

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For this week, I will give you three female voices that you may not have heard.

Come Along by Vicci Martinez (featuring Cee Lo Green)

The first comes from a contestant on The Voice. This is starting to get radio play, so you may have heard it. The song itself was originally released in 2001 by Titiyo, a Swedish pop singer. (source) The recent released version is beyond similar, so I hope she is receiving a pretty dime for it. :-) The version below is performed by Vicci Martinez and Cee Lo Green. Vicci came in third on The Voice in 2011.

Sunlight by Helena

I found and fell for Helena, an India-born songwriter, who is a strong storyteller. How her talents
were found and nurtured are quite interesting to me. Here in her words from her website is a bit of insight into her childhood. “My parents were very open-minded, but they were also pretty strict,” she says. “We weren’t raised with any popular music at all. The only CD I ever wanted was Christina Aguilera’s, but my parents thought that music was frivolous, so I grew up listening to Indian and Western classical music, Byzantine chanting, and religious Buddhist chanting. We had a television, but we were only allowed to watch movies once a week. We had three: The Secret Garden, The Little Princess, and Gulliver's Travels. I would tell my parents, ‘I'm bored.’ And they'd be like, ‘No, you're just boring.’ So I created my own little worlds. I’d go into the forest and create a fairy habitat instead of watching television on Sunday.”

She has other songs available that you should explore, but this was the song that brought me to her.

All the Way by Leslie Hunt

Leslie Hunt was in the top 10 girls on American Idol during Season 6.  She was voted off before the top 10 finalists, and well before she truly found her voice. That was not the end for her though. She has been performing in Chicago (her hometown) ever since, both as a solo act and in a band titled District 97. She released two albums, one in May of 2012 titled "Wait For It" and the second back in 2009 titled "Your Hair is on Fire."  (source)  I stumbled across this song while listening to a playlist on thesixtyone.com and shortly after, added it to my collection.


Let me know what you think of these songs. And as mentioned, please share your favorite songs that you've been listening to this week.