I like it - (except for Commercial Crap - and I think I should define what I consider "Commercial Crap" ie: shallow, insincere songs that are really "jingles" that are written primarily to make money or sell a product - usually cheap imitations of great songs that have had tremendous commericial success - I'm not against songs that sell - I just don't like bad re-writes of great songs, phony posturing and hype - and way too much of what I hear at "writer's nites" here in "Music City" fall into the later category -) There're times I just love the sound of silence and times I just have to scream. I like to play 12 bar blues when I'm jammin' with other players or rock in a minor key and I really like to create my own songs. Johnathan Long is in my opinion the master of the craft of songwriting and one of my all-time favorite people. Travis Meadows and Diana Jones are my two favorite underground/indy-singer/songwriters. Billy Holiday and Hank Williams Sr. are two of my all-time favorite artists. I like the Texas singer/songwriters and Willie Nelson is someone that I can listen to alot. My music collection is very eclectic though with something for just about any mood (even a little hip-hop -no opera yet...) (Not usually into white noice, like garbage can lids banging while fingernails scratch blackboards - so not much heavy metal or trash rock in my collection) I grew up on Hank, Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rogers and Jimmy Reed. Spent years playin' in Honky Tonks and Juke Joints - "Rock-A-Billy Rules". The three kings of the blues, Albert, Freddy and B.B. along with the classics like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson (Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Chicago Blues, Down Home Blues), all influenced me. Tuesday Hawkins, Sara Jade, Lisa Carver, Emmy Lou Harris, Irene Kelley, Iris Dement, Kasey Chambers, Allison Krauss, Tracy Nelson, Rita Coolidge, Jessie Coulter, Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffifth, Patti Griffin, Kate Wolf, Sandy Denny, Mary Black, Gillian Welch, Mindy Smith, Maire Brennan and Lorenna Mckinett are among my favorites. I also listen to Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, Enigma, Clannad, Robbie Robertson, Dr. John, Dylan, the Band, Neil Young, some Stones, the Cox Family (Southern Gospel is another big influence), Ed Snodderly, Doc Watson, John Lennon, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Woodie Guthrie, Ryan Adams, James McMurtry, Greg Brown, Tom Waits, Mose Allison, Warren Haynes with Gvt Mule, Travis Meadows, Dickie Betts, Ray Sisk, Darrell Loden, Mac Elliot, Mark Steven Jones, Trent Jeffcoat, Grant Boatwright, Chris Thomas King, Chet O'Keefe, Van Morrision, Steve Young, Steve Earl, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Billy Joe Shaffer, Earl Clark, and of course some Johhny Cash, Merle Haggard and George Jones. I was never a "Dead Head" but I admired Jerry Garcia's playing with them and especially with Vassar Clemments and David Grisman. Tony Rice and Jerry Douglas are also a couple of my favorite pickers. My favorite clubs in the U.S. for live music are the Anderson Faire in Houston, TX - the Down Home in Johnson City, TN - Tres Hombres in Woodland Park, CO and the Blackbird (not that Blue Bird) in Nashville - and I love the Lyons, CO folk festival and Doc Watson's MerleFest in Wilksboro, NC - that being said, I have a reserved seat at the old Hall of Fame Lounge on Music Row in Music City and get to hear alot of new singer/songwriters as well as hang with some of the legends. (a somewhat redundant, slightly more more exhaustive list of my musical influences are on http://www.myspace.com/denniseggers)"One will lose no music by not attending the oratorios and operas. The really inspiring melodies are cheap and universal, and are as audible to the poor man's ear as to the rich man's." (Henry David Thoreau)