New Music Site

Hugh Hewitt, as any of his regular radio show listeners can attest, cannot be trusted to know about music (or movies, but that's another subject). When he isn't busy hosting his evening radio show, he teaches Constitutional Law at a California university law school and works as an attorney specializing in Endangered Species Act litigation (on the side of property owners).

None of that says, "Music."

But one thing Hugh likes to do is help other people find success. In that vein, he has started a music website, Amaze.fm, which provides a vehicle for independent artists to have their music heard.

Not being much more musical than Hugh is, I have no songs to contribute to the site, but I love to listen. The "Charts" (actually one chart, as near as I can tell) list the popularity of the songs, and whichever song is in the number 1 position during Hugh's Friday radio show gets played in its entirety on the air nationwide. Sometime Friday night, they reset the charts for the following week.

A lot of the bands are Christian. A lot of them aren't. The last couple weeks, The Neighborhood Bullys have had many of their songs near the top of the charts, though they're too "Rock" for my taste. I think they're more of a guys' band.

Here are some of the songs I like, though I don't necessarily like all the songs by these artists:

For Country fans, I have two choices:

Perry L Nunley's Redneck Date is good fun.

Paul Evans' Endlessly is a sad, haunting song for the heartbroken.

If you're looking for female vocalists, here's a variety:

Rebecca Elliott's Lullabye was written for an organization helping orphanages in Ukraine. It's piano and vocals.

Lynne Timmes' I Travel Light is contemporary pop. Her voice reminds me of someone I can't quite put my finger on right now.

Lara Swinarton's So I Can Breathe is different from the kind of music I usually listen to, but it's grown on me.

For contemporary Christian rock try these:

The Reel's Come Alive rocks without being too heavy.

The J Band's Take Our Turn is a catchy, fun song. I love it. Unfortunately, this song doesn't come up on the list of "other songs by this artist" when you're playing one of their other songs, but you can find it on the artist's page.

The Great Upset's Omega is my favorite song on amaze.fm. This song has an intriguing atmosphere and harmonies that blend into the instruments.

I also like The Great Upset's I Had My Reasons. This song is quieter--more acoustic--than the others, and I really like the vocals.

So that's my introduction for you to amaze.fm, and I invite you to visit. They have a Search box, where you can search by Genre, by Artist (but if you're new to the site, you have no idea who the artists are), and by "Sounds Like." Plus you can let them give you random songs (that's how I found some of these songs), or just go through the charts and listen to what other people like.

Hugh Hewitt, you had a great idea this time.