ELLN January Music Quick Pick
Each month for our ELLN teleconference this year, I am highlighting an album. January’s quick pick from our ELLN agenda is reproduced below. I hope you join us for this afternoon’s call. If you’re an in-house counsel and not part of the ACC or the Employment & Labor Law Network, join us today and see what we’re all about! More details about today’s meeting are available, including a registration link, and you can join ACC and ELLN today)! I hope to (virtually) see you there.
ELLN Chair Doug Hass has long been a music buff (he founded country music site Roughstock.com in 1993) and long done a lot of driving for and to work. That’s given him lots of time to indulge and explore his music interests. To help entertain you on your commutes or at the gym, office, home, or on the go, Doug is offering a year-long series of picks that will showcase some of the best albums you may have never heard, or that deserve another listen. We hope that each monthly choice piques your interest in these albums and artists. These may be titles that you have never heard of, but our hope is that your interest will be piqued and your musical world enriched!
Joe Purdy – You Can Tell Georgia (2006)
Amazon Music – Apple Music – Spotify — Pandora
I graduated from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law in Bloomington almost 12 (!) years ago. Whenever I think back, though, the best parts were everything that happened outside of the classroom. I don’t mean that my law school education was bad (quite the opposite), only that the community I joined at IU was worth far more. I met my wife, but I also made other lifelong friends from all over the country. One of my 2020 resolutions is to continue to reach out to those friends and keep those connections strong and current beyond just social media. This month’s pick comes courtesy of one of those friends from law school. She introduced me to Joe Purdy in 2006. More than a dozen studio albums later, this Arkansas-born singer/songwriter is still among the best Americana/folk artists out there, in the tradition of Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. Those names set a pretty high bar for any artist, but Joe Purdy clears it. This month’s pick also starts a run of monthly picks that sound even better live than on their albums. Purdy’s onstage performances are convicting and inspiring, and his voice and guitar work are flawless. If you like this month’s pick, I would encourage you to see Joe Purdy live. My wife and try to catch him every time he comes to Chicago.
My personal favorite album is This American, but when thinking about which Joe Purdy album to showcase, I wanted to pick the one that I would use if someone asked me to introduce them to his music. Better yet, I actually picked the one that introduced me to Joe Purdy: You Can Tell Georgia. Purdy is a consistently exceptional songwriter. Each of his albums have their own character, and this is no different. The title track was initially my favorite, but “Can’t Get It Right Today,” “Ode to Sad Clown,” and “Worn Out Shoes” are all standouts. You Can Tell Georgia is also one of the few albums that I can honestly say I don’t skip a track on when listening. That is pretty rare. Even after 14 years, I still like every song and don’t get tired of having it on repeat. Not bad.
I hope you enjoy (or enjoy rediscovering) it!
