At some point after I turned 30 I became one of those people that thought that all new music was crap.  I never really liked the rap/rock stuff (Limp Biscuit type nonsense) and the critically acclaimed stuff I was supposed to like sort of left me cold (Arcade Fire, Radiohead).  I actually appreciate some catchy top 40 music, but I’m not going to buy it and listen to it voluntarily.

As a result of all this, I found myself listening to a lot of music from my youth (Pixies, Wilco, Jeff Buckley, Replacements) and discovering new to me music made before my time (The Band, Big Star, Townes Van Zandt).  Having grown up listening to stuff like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and Bob Dylan, I’ve always preferred simple music played honestly.

Things have changed the last few years.  The prominence of YouTube has democratized the music industry, and provided a venue for great acts that are never going to sell a million records.  A the same time, hipsters seem to have discovered instruments like the banjo, so we’ve seen the explosion of the Americana genre and playing music with actual instruments is cool again. And acts like Trampled by Turtles are on Letterman and playing sold out shows at 9:30 Club.  It really is a fantastic development.  

(Source: youtube.com)