Kaeli-Anne Moriah
Kaeli-Anne Moriah is a little girl with an incredibly mature, gritty voice and great vocal range. With a folksy style and a penchant for throwing in a little of her own bass playing now and then, she already has a repoitore of beautiful tracks available for free on her Facebook fan page
Amazon Freebies
Amazon is not only a cheaper place to buy MP3 albums than iTunes, it is a treasure trove of a wide array of free tracks. There are almost 1000 free tracks currently available, but they're not easy to wade through. I recently downloaded about $50 worth of music for free, and these are the highlights that I'm pretty sure I'll keep. If you don't have time to wade through Amazon's offerings, this list may be a useful place to start.
Robin--Soy Un Caballo
Beautiful French song about lost love and the hope of finding it again.
Rose City--Viva Voce
Fun Indie girl-rock
Enough--Barlow Girl
One of my favorite contemporary worship songs covered fairly simply by a chick-rock band
The Very Best of Naxos Early Music--entire album!
If you're into ancient liturgical chants and choral pieces, and cathedral acoustics, you'll love this. The Christian-Arabic Kyrie Eleison from Lebanon is especially interesting.
Fireflies--Owl City
If you missed this when it was free on iTunes, Amazon just started offering it free. It's listed as electronic, which I usually really dislike, but this really has more of a gentle, Indie, Eisley reminiscent sound that you'd expect to hear in more acoustic genres. Fun, whimsical and catchy summer track.
I Wanna Know Why--Justin Rosolino
Gentle acoustic guitar and violin with pensive, soft vocals.
In My Time Of Dyin'--Lovell Sisters
I am a hopeless sucker for absolutely anything done in this soul/folk/bluegrass style. It reminds me of the Smokies, and therefore happiness, heaven and all good things. That is pretty much all I have to say about it.
Era--Vakoka
Interesting and pleasant to listen to track from Madagascar. Not a clue what it's about. I think it's in Malagasy, because it doesn't sound French. If you figure it out, let me know.
Goodnight My Love--Ella Fitzgerald
Fun old Big Band piece that works as a slower, wrapping up the night swing dance number.
Follow Me--Brooke White
I love how pop is going soft and acoustic. With harmony, simple but well arranged instrumentals, pleasant vocals, this is a good feel-good track.
You've Got a Home--Christa Wells
Lyrically this runs right up with Fireflies for a favorite. Beautiful sentiments, interesting vocals (a few tiny hints of Regina Spektor showing through occasional, but mostly she's her own thing). Great Indie/Pop/Acoustic Rock piece.
Pitter-Pat--Erin McCarley
This is very reminiscent of Pricilla Ahn, and if you like her, you'll probably like Erin McCarley. It's basically a beautifully written song about regret over "throwing out the rules" in a relationship, so it's not necessarily a kid-friendly song, although I think the poetic allusions would be lost on most children.
Walk Tall--Ziggy Marley
Fun cleaning-the-house-with-kids Reggae song by Bob Marley's delightfully joyful son.
Drift--Ken Block (album)
This album is the kind of rock that southern country stations would probably play, but that isn't actually country in any tangible, definable way. Lyrically these tracks are total hit or miss. Blue to a Blind Man is beautiful and insightful, while The Other Side is painfully formulaic. As a whole it's got enough gems to be worth noticing.
15 to 20 (Lady Feat Tigra)--The Phenomenal Handclap Band
Okay, I'll admit it. This "rap" song about bus fare prices and other random things is really not that good. It just sentimentally reminds me of the wonderfully ridiculous girl-rap that comes out of London, and therefore makes me smile.
Breathe Your Name--Sixpence None The Richer
I never have quite figured out why the band whose best track was "Kiss Me" continues to insist on styling themselves as a CCM band, but this song, which I suppose Christian radio stations will play with the vague hope that it's written to God makes a very decent creative love song to a boyfriend as well. Vocals are beautiful as usual. I honestly think Sixpence lead/songwriter Leigh Nash should ditch the boys again and strike out on her own as an independent artist.
For What Reason--Death Cab For Cutie
It's Death Cab For Cutie. Do I really need to explain?
Color--Toby Lightman
Really pretty pop-rock song.
On Vacation--Aimee Allen
Just a fun, slightly silly pop song for driving with the windows down in the summertime.
