Bonus Post!

Ryan Presents:
My Top 5 recent folk songs at this present time:

5. Fionn Regan - Hunters Map. What an adorable person. Bray, Ireland's Fionn Regan. I still stand by the ultra gay statement of that I wish this man could sing me to sleep every night. This song is just such a lullaby.

4. Andrew Bird - MX Missiles. You all knew there was going to be a Chicago guy on here. This is just a weird song. His lyrics are above me, but I still enjoy it. This song makes me wonder why this man isn't some huge rock star. He clearly can write really catchy pop songs.

3. Six Organs of Admittance - Words for Two. I can only imagine how much more I would enjoy this song (and all of his songs ) while on some wild drugs. I don't do drugs though, but I still really enjoy this music. This song comes from the album 'School of the Flower', and is another excellent sleeping album. Just don't expect that sound when you see his band live, they are electric and very loud, still brilliant though.

2. Tom Waits - Day after Tomorrow. This is just a sad sad song. Tom Waits is a wild guy. The man likes to experiment. This song is off the album "Real Gone", which contains several songs which have him beat-boxing in them. Strangeness aside, he can still just sit down and write a solid folk song. I have a feeling this is one of those 'velvet underground' type songs, where people will come back to it twenty years and really be blown away by it. These people will wonder why the man wasn't 'bigger'during this time. The song is just very moving.

1. Damien Dempsey - Factories. Start and end this list with an Irishman. Damo sings about his youth in 'factories', and it just so personal. As far as I can tell, most Irish-musicians don't really write about the problems that plague Ireland. I think that is why he is so popular over there, he is just singing for his people, and they can really relate. "...I know lads who died, that sound chills me inside still" It is just haunting. But I already wrote a book about him on the facebook a while ago, so I won't continue.