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Fridays are always off to a great start when you do something stupid. For example, maybe you go to make the first pot of coffee at work, because you are one of the first people in the office, right. Suppose you are a little groggy, because you just woke up, and you don’t realize that the pot is still half full from the previous day. That turns into having to clean a half pot of coffee of a counter. Not fun.

What is fun is Music Fest Friday. Today’s featured artist is Glen Phillips formerly of the 1980’s alt. rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket. I think Glen is one of the best song writers of his generation, with heartfelt, poignant lyrics that just about anyone can connect with. Couple that with a pretty powerful voice and good acoustic guitar work, and you have a combination that I could listen to all day long.

We’re going to start out the journey talking about Courage.

This version of the tune is a bit quicker than some, but its still a song I really enjoy. I’ve only had the pleasure of seeing Glen live once, and that was when he and Nickel Creek (another favorite I’ll use on MFF one day) toured as the Mutual Admiration Society. We’ll go to a bit of a funnier song now, which, in one recording I’ve got he prefaces saying, “This is a true story, but its, uh, not my true.” So please, enjoy yourself listening to Drive By.

You didn’t really think the dog’d get it did you? First time I heard this song I nearly spit beer out of my nose I laughed so hard the first time he sung the refrain. The final song I’ll give you today is called Darkest Hour.

If you are interested in listening to Glen with Nickel Creek, you can search archive.org for Mutual Admiration Society, or you can just check out this show.  Its going to have a lot of bluegrass influence, but really, thats not bad.  The cool think about Archive, if you’ve not been there, is that you can sometimes listen to an entire show right online, or download the audio files.  The show I linked to above is a show at Largo and the show, in order is available to listen to in your browser.

Ok, last part of the post, name that tune.  I’ve decided I’ll wrap up this round of “name that tune” at the end of August, then we’ll go on a monthly schedule.  Remember try to do this without google, and I’ll edit the answers so that the name you submit is in white…still there, you just have to highlight it to see it.

I drew that glass across his neck as fine as any blade.  And I felt his blood flow fast and hot around me where I lay!

Thats it.  Enjoy your Friday, and try not to spill your coffee.