These are all the songs I’ve chosen for this month’s contest. I know thousands of independent musicians who are deserving of having their songs in this dang deal. So narrowing my picks down to just a few is always the hardest part of my month. Oh well. Such is life.

Bonnie McGill – Little Sadie

I’m still finding out about Bonnie, but I’m certainly glad that she introduced herself to me a few weeks ago by sending me several of her more than 300 songs. (Many of which you can find at her page on ReverbNation.com.) One of the things I do know is that Bonnie says she lives in Canada (West Lorne, Ontario to be exact), and we’ve had some great music from Canadians on previous editions of this show. As I’ve said many times before, I’m always a sucker for mature, intelligent, thought provoking lyrics, and that seems to be Bonnie’s specialty. Aside from her music, she’s also an author, having published a book of poetry not long ago.

Bradford Tilden – Ode to Elizabeth

We’ve played music from a lot of interesting people on this show over the years, but Bradford is in the running for  Most Interesting Ever on our show. Bradford specializes in “healing music” and calls his music operations the Crystal Music Healing Center. This is from his website:  “Bradford has lived a full fascinating and miraculous life. He is only 31 years old, but has the wisdom of an ancient sage. His life is filled with extraordinary prophetic dreams, serendipidous and spontaneous initiations and avtivations by shamans from this planet and elsewhere. And he LOVES to talk about them.” I can’t wait to get this guy on for Interview Week, dang it!

Bradford wrote and recorded this song last month almost immediately after hearing the news of the great actress Elizabeth Taylor’s passing. “It is the most beautiful piece of spontaneous healing music I have ever created,” he said in an email he sent accompanying this song. I found the piece to be unusually moving, even for a guy who has seen few of Elizabeth Taylor’s films. I am grateful to Brandon for sending it to me.

Carl Lafitte – Outdoor Texas

Redeye Carl is from the Gulf Coast of Texas (Houston to be exact or, more specifically, the Freeport/Galveston area), where the pirate life is still a great tradition (well, an underground tradition anyway, and presumably without the hooks, and raping and pillaging). And that’s just perfect for this guy who is reportedly a direct decedent of history’s own famous Redeye Carl. The modern day Redeye and his band of pirates have been traveling around Texas for many years writin’ songs and playin’ them for anybody who will have them (often for little or no money), and this is one of Carl’s latests. Carl spends most of his time practicin’ the stuff he sings about in this song, so he’s not much of a computer guy. That’s why, whenever I put in him in this dang contest, he doesn’t do all that well. He never does much to toot his own horn on MySpace and such. (He does have a myspace page, but I don’t think he uses it much. You can use it, though, to hear (and then buy) his songs.) So, this time, dang it. I hope some of ya’ll will help him take up the slack and get all your friends to vote. Redeye will be great for Interview Week if we can ever get him into the Top Dang 10.

Fronz Arp – Violet The Killjoy

I’ll just let this line from The Fronz’s (not sure if they like being called that, but I think it’s cool) website be a more-than-adequate introduction for them: “Fronz Arp have been busily putting finishing scratches on latest album ‘What Strange Machines’ due for release in 2011. The self-produced collection shows the strength of a DIY approach to music with a clear personal vision and bird-finger flipped at the traditionally well-trodden main-stream production values.”

These guys are weird! I think I’m in love! Check them out at www.fronzarp.com.

Lee Pons – Dr. James

Lee is from Tampa, Florida, but he’s not past takin’ his kick-ass blues to just about anywhere in the South. We had his incredible, bluesy piano instrumental “Voodoo Boogie” on last month’s show. But ya’ll jerks didn’t vote for it enough to get it into The Finals. So I’m bringin’ him back this month, in case ya’ll finally got some dang sense knocked into ya’lls heads. (And, if this time doesn’t work, Lee has sent me at least 3 more songs to try.) Check Lee out at www.LeePons.com.

Rick Ryman – Bring Home The Bacon

Rick Ryman moved to Nashville from Indiana a few years back, and he’s been trying to get a break in the music business — without selling his soul — ever since. I probably don’t have to tell you that it’s the parenthetical part of that last sentence that has made things difficult for ole’ Rick. At any rate, this song is from a set of recordings that will eventually become his second CD (we featured several songs from his first CD Leg Man in this contest in 2009), and Rick is sorta hopin’ that he can maybe get a big Nashville name to take an interest in some of these songs. Hey George Strait, if you happen to be readin’ this, dang thing, make sure you check out this song. It’s right up your alley, I’d say.

Rick is currently working on a Nashville-based show for HossTheBoss.com. Who knows how long it will take for him to get that rollin’, but I know it’s going to be well worth listening to when the day finally comes.

Stephanie Ann – When the Wind Blows Through

We often find ourselves learning about musicians we play on this show as we go along through the month, and that will be the case with Stephanie, about whom I am largely ignorant (other than to say that she is from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin and is one of several musicians that have come to this show at the recommendation of Andy Lorge, one of our finalists from last month). This beautiful song certainly speaks very well for itself!

Tennessee LaRue – My Last Mile

Ya’ll didn’t vote enough for this guy last month, so I’m bringing him back, dang it! He, of all people, deserves it! This guy has spent the last few decades up there in Nashville playing on everybody else’s records, and now he’s doing his own stuff. So ya’ll treat him right this time! This is great stuff! Check him out at www.myspace.com/tennesseelarue.

Teresa Bjorkman – G.U.N.

Teresa Bjorkman is another musician who comes to me via the Andy Lorge connection. I’ll tell you more about her as I learn more. In the meantime, just know that this song is as cool as they come (and this is coming from a Texas guy)!

Virginia Leaves – Painted Horses

These guys are yet another bunch that I’m just now finding out about. All I know about them is that they do some great, intelligent-minded music and they come from Vancouver, BC. Here’s their dang MySpace page: www.myspace.com/virginialeaves

See My Previous Picks

November 2008 | December 2008 | January 2009 | February 2009 | April 2009 | May 2009 | June 2009 | July 2009 | August 2009 | September 2009 | October 2009 | November 2009 | January 2010 | February 2010 | March 2010 | April 2010 | May 2010 | June 2010 | July 2010 | August 2010 | September 2010 | November 2010 | January 2011 | February 2011 | March 2011