Great question! Seems like I dropped off the face of the planet for a while... may as well have...

We've taken on some extra work in music - some at a church, some at a
school and one as a "judge" for a pretty huge music competition that is
going on.



I'm being introduced to a lot of new music and artists I've never heard
of before. As with any contest, there are plenty of not-so-great
submissions, but I tell ya, I've found a few pearls and I'm pretty
stoked about several of them, and I'll be blogging about these new (and
not-so-new,) undiscovered artists shortly.



Right off the bat, though, let me post my disclaimer :) I am not paid
to endorse any artist - in addition, I don't know these artists
personally, so there are no "favors" going on here. I'll simply be
writing honestly about what and who I like, for whatever reason. I
won't bother posting about artists I don't like - what's the point?
Lastly, I have a wide range of music styles that I like - right now,
however, I am mostly being introduced to the music of female
singer/songwriters, so that's where I'll be starting. The styles are
anywhere from Joni Mitchell to Sarah McLachlan to Fiona Apple to John
Mayer (yes, I am aware he is not female - the style, people, the style
...) The content of my choices will also be extremely wide - I don't
care if the musician is gay or straight, Christian, Jewish or Buddhist,
purple or green, single or divorced or swears...if it is good solid
music, I will write about it.



The up side to all this new work is, it's steady and allows me to spend
more time composing at home, and to do homework with/play with my son.
The down side is I don't have as much free time to perform outside my
city, or market Stardust, or do much social networking. We can't do it
all. But I am okay with that.



Which brings to my first artist - check out Jenny Bruce. http://www.goodgirl.com and http://www.myspace.com/jen..nybruce



She is an awesome singer/songwriter whose last blog (under journal) on October 8 2007, http://www.goodgirl.com/ne..wjournal.html#October_8,_2..007, is titled exactly that - You Can't Do It All.



She is the real deal - an amazing writer, singer, mother who put the
career on hold a little while back for her kids. I know first hand the
struggle of being in music and being a Mom and trying to do it all -
trying to do it all well. I can't. But I have a great kid, and for now
he is my most important composition. My hat is off to Jenny Bruce - her
latest CD, "Left of July," is solid good music from beginning to end.
There wasn't a single track I didn't get pulled into. Her songs have
been featured in network shows, and she is a Billboard song contest
winner. She gets a high five from Cher-Baby and 5 stars for being a
great musician and a cool mom.



Check out Jenny Bruce's CD, "Left of July," available online at her
website, at CDBaby and on iTunes. Check out her other CD's while you're
there.



Okay, off to the other work :) Glad to be back.

Cher