Shawn Mullins- And on a rainy night

This is one of my all time favorite albums to play. It's dependable for solid acoustic guitar and haunting vocals. When I lose all faith in music, thanks to current pop radio and media machine that is MTV, VH1, and the like... I like to throw in CDs like Shawn Mullins: Soul's Core. It's loaded with awesome tracks, and one you can let play all the way through.

This album is good for all the right reasons...

(1) The only song on the album that got any major attention or radio play is Lullaby. Which was a good song, but not the best on the album in my opinion. Shawn isn't an artist that has been played to death, so the music isn't force-fed to you. I've been turned sour on many songs I really like, due the fact that radio just won't stop playing them. Kid Rock's All Summer Long came close to being one of these (although, I must admit I still love that song and album anyway).

(2) Shawn's voice is soulful. It isn't that typical hair band screamer, nor is it the soprano Justin Timberlake/Akon like style you hear so much of. It's rich and unique. I feel it sets his music apart from a lot of the stuff that's out there. To sum it up, it's a nice change from the norm.

(3) He does what any good musician or story teller should. He paints a picture for the listener. I like this album, because when I listen to it, it's like watching a movie. He's descriptive enough to give you the picture, but also vague enough to let you fill in the missing pieces... giving the music a refreshing, deep quality to it.

(4) There are no label plugs or artist branding type shout outs in his music. You won't hear "Bad boy, konvict, shady, roca fella, lamb, or g-unit," shouted out at any time listening to Shawn. It seems like every new artist has gotten into the habit of plugging the label in every song, or some sort of stupid self-promotion. If you want to avoid listening to garbage of this nature... stick to artists like Shawn!

I would have loved to embed an MP3 for you to listen to this song.... but it was so hard to find! I looked online for like 45 minutes! I even tried to find it on old Amazon. The closest I got to finding it was on yahoo, trying to connect via Rhapsody (See image on right)...No luck (if you know of a place that I can add it from, let me know!). It's great album none the less and should pick it up for your collection if you don't already have it.
(UPDATE! You can listen to it here, you just have to select it by title... I could not embed it though).




Song Lyrics: Shawn Mullins- And On A Rainy Night Lyrics

February rain smoky mountain fire
like a hummingbird to cane
just following desire
watch the firelight
throw shadows across the room
many miles away
not far from cannery row
he beats on his guitar
and does his little show
and all the people say
you got balls to play the game this way
it's one in a million
so he fills all the holes
with good wine from mussel sholes
and the cencemillian
these streets were bound to cross
maybe lifetimes ago
whenever innocence is lost
we got a long way to go
we got a long way
watch the firelight throw
shadows across the room
and on a rainy night
two lovers held each other tight
in the moonlight (he felt so good in her arms)
in the moonlight (he felt so good in her arms)
in the moonlight (he felt so good in her arms)

(Lyric source: http://www.lyricsdomain.com/19/shawn_mullins/and_on_a_rainy_night.html)