I have a minimum of a one hour commute each way. Music doesn’t really entertain me any more and I find it really distracting, so I listen to audiobooks.

Currently: Stephen King (the Dark Tower Series), and Paul Coelho “The Alchemist”. Plus various others. I also have some music on there: U2, Def Leppard (shush!), various easy listening type tracks, Aerosmith, AC/DC. I find I don’t really pick up new music any more (although I do really like Finger 11). I might give some of these recommendations a shot. Thanks, Linda.

And can I just say I love my iPod touch that Santa brought me? It nestles so nicely in my cup holder next to the aux jack.

Also, you might know this - do they make the griffin earthumps (or whatever they’re called now) in black?

i love spoon and was one of the many that recommended it elsewhere. explore their other albums. you might be pleasantly surprised. and although it’s a few months old, the newest rogue wave is also lovely.
now, i’m in love with the soundtrack for “juno,” which despite being an awesome movie (see it quick before the arrival of numero duo!), is quite a lovely compilation.
just some thoughts.

i feel like a lame-o because I haven’t really explored ANY new music this past year. But I would like to expand my collection and I got an iTunes gift card for Xmas, so I’ll have to give some of these a whirl. Thx, Linda et al!

Hi Linda,
Some of my favorites that I play over and over on iTunes while working…
Regina Spektor (YOU MUST HAVE THIS NOW)
Ingrid Michaelson
Gomez
The Weepies
Radiohead (In Rainbows)
Joshua Radin

meant to add these soundtracks:
Fever Pitch
Garden State
Elizabethtown

And for artists Ben Kweller is worth a listen. Penny on a Train Track is great (you can youtube it first and see the hilarious video of his grandmother).

I listen to fairly mellow music, I tend to like singer/songwriter types, so I’m not sure my recommendations will help, but here are my favorites:

Ellis Paul - he recently released a great collection called Essentials, a good overview of his music.

Dar Williams - her “ode” to the Pacific Northwest is on the CD called Mortal City. My favorite albums of hers are Mortal City, The Green World, and Beauty of the Rain.

Patty Griffin - I think someone above recommended her. My favorite is Living with Ghosts, a very early release of hers.

Christine Kane - you can here much (all?) of her music on her website, http://christinekane.com. She recently released a live CD, Friday Night in One Lifetime, which is an excellent overview of her music.

I’m also a big fan of Carrie Newcomer, though she may be the most mellow of the lot, she’s a great storyteller. Betty’s Diner is kind of her “greatest hits” collection.

Oh, also Susan Tedeschi’s Just Won’t Burn and Wait For Me releases.

I also agree with Kelsey above that Dar Williams is fantastic.

hey linda. ill throw a few out, as i find we usually have similar taste in music

i whole=heartedly agree with everything Sara Moon suggested above, as well as dar williams, aimee mann and mat kearney. AWESOME stuff. ive been in a kinda acoustic, chill mood lately, and ive also found these albums in frequent rotation on my crazy nyc subway commute.

ANYTHING by iron & wine
alexi murdoch — time without consequence
ANYTHING by belle & sebastian
ben lee — awake is the new sleep
death cab for cutie — transatlanticism
jason mraz — selections for friends (this is an AMAZING live album and hes INCREDIBLE in person.)
the postal service — such great heights

some of these i downloaded ages ago, but have recently “rediscovered.” i credit my ipod with maintaining my sanity during my commutes. happy commuting, heh!

You might think I’m a big dork, but my favorite things to listen to on my iPod are downloaded episodes of This American Life from NPR. Their stories are SO fascinating and always draw me in–the drive-time or elliptical-time flies!

Wow, I must be the oddball … I have 500 songs in my iPod, anything from contemporary country (Keith Urban, Rascall Flatts, Sara Evans, Sugarland) to show tunes (Babs, Rent, etc) to yoga chants (Deva Premal - the Essence) to 70s (Carpenters, lots of disco, Carly Simon, Carole King) to Madonna, Michael Jackson, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguillera, etc. etc. plus some assorted contemporary Christian (Point of Grace) and the obligatory Christmas songs. Whew. Am I ADD or just strange?

Jose Gonzalez, In Our Nature is an awesome album. Also, Fionn Regan is great, and Mike Doughty has a new album, and when you’re not in the mood for music, David Sedaris fills your funny hole.

Ew.

Agree with above suggestions for Belle & Sebastian, Brandi Carlile, Regina Spektor (although I dimly recall you sharing my enthusiasm for “Fidelity” and talking about walking around singing “hea-a-a-a-a-art”), Iron & Wine, Aimee Mann, and KT Tunstall (I think I like “Eye to the Telescope” better than her new album, but the new one is still in the growing-on-me phase). I will also add Girlyman (folky-ish), the Indigo Girls (but skip their most recent album, as it’s kinda boring), and Eisley (in a similar vein to Regina, sort of).

I have also dusted off some of the 90’s music in my collection, because I have been watching too much VH1.

I just discovered Feist, too, after ignoring her CDs splashed all over Starbucks for a while. The cool kids kept saying she was good, and hey, she is, who’da thunk it?
Lately I have been hugely repeating Bishop Allen’s The Broken String (seriously, I listen to it pretty much every day) and all 3 Fruit Bats albums. Also a lot of Andrew Bird (his newest album kills me, it’s so good) and Shins (another killer new album, but all 3 are phenomenal, methinks) and the new Cat Power. And the husband has been playing both Shearwater’s newest album and the soundtrack to Broken Flowers, which is all this amazing Ethiopian music, so I’ve been hearing lots of those, too, even though I don’t have either on my MP3 player yet.