Balthrop, Alabama
I lived for ten years in the Iron State. Not a day passes that I don't think about. I miss it terribly. Will I ever go back? Well, I found out that Homebrewing is illegal there, so I probably won't ever live there again--I would love to visit again, though. I feel like I can visit the best parts of my former home any time, though. See, this gang, this gaggle of folks went and created an Alabamian home in Brooklyn, New York. While I'm not in Brooklyn, either (Hi Alice!), I can listen to this music whenever I want, and feel the exuberance, the passion and the community of a homegrown, Alabamy Jamboree.
I like a lot of different music, but this is the kind of music that I really count as my favorite. Just a mess 'o people singing and playing instruments. I love it.
You can stream a lot of their music at their label's site. I've had it playing for the last ten or fifteen minutes. They offer a few songs for download on their bio page (they're about halfway down). One of them, "Love to Love You", I featured on my blog a little over a year ago.
Some of Balthrop, Alabama's videos are featured here. Like all good boys and girls, they also have a Myspace and a Facebook.
One of the members, Michael Arthur, is also a very talented visual artist. Here is a very nice article by him in The New York Times, and he also writes his own blog. He also animated the video for "God Loves My Country".
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