Random Thursday – Free Folk Audio Streams

Let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time there was a girl in South London named Sandi. She was a singer/songwriter who spent much of her time and money driving around, trying to captivate audiences with her original songs. Sometimes they loved her, sometimes they were ambivalent; but mostly, Sandi just got tired of driving around so much, living out of a car, and being broke. Then she got a brilliant idea.

She posted a note on her Web site that she would be performing 21 half-hour shows live, online, from her basement. The first night, she had 70 viewers. By the end of her 21-day "tour," 70,000 people were watching. Among them were representatives from many of the major record labels, and a week and a half after finishing the "tour," Sandi signed a deal with RCA Europe, live, in front of her viewers on the Internet.

What a great story! I can't say enough about how much I love this song, and how much I'm looking forward to the September release of Sandi's American debut, Smile ... It Confuses People (Columbia).

Sandi Thom - "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)" | listen
(image courtesy Girlie Press)

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Another incredible artist you may or may not know about is José Gonzáléz. Now on tour in America, Gonzáléz is working on promoting his latest (rather fantastic) release, Veneer. If you haven't had a chance to check out his work yet, consider a blend of John Fahey and Iron & Wine.

And then check out his beautiful song, "Crosses."
lo-fi audio | hi-fi audio
hi-fi video | lo-fi video
(image courtesy Special Ops Media)