SING THE STATES #19: Indiana

This is a very special post in our SING THE STATES series. You see, on Friday I'll be moving away from Utah forever, and after spending a month in Europe with only my wife and a backpack, I'll be moving to our new home... in Indiana!

So you can see why this is a big deal.

Indiana was the 19th state to the Union, and of the lower 48, Indiana is the smallest state west of the Appalachians. Indiana is pretty well known for its sports traditions - the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Colts (NFL), the Indiana Pacers (NBA). According to wikipedia, "Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosiers. Although many stories are told, the origin of the term is unknown". The mystery! I can't wait!

Considered the "Cross Roads of America", Indiana has more miles of Interstate Highway per square mile than any other state. Its name means "Land of the Indians", even though there are less than 8,000 Native Americans living there today. And did you know that the Saturday Evening Post is published in Indianapolis? I sure didn't.

To be honest, I've only been to Indiana once, and that was only for a weekend. I really don't know what to expect, but a lot of my feelings can be summed up in this post by my wife (especially the part about the popsicles everywhere). It's going to be an adventure. And to celebrate, Indiana is the only state so far that gets two tracks awarded it. One is Tom Waits' "Gun Street Girl" because it was on my original list and I love it. The other is "Indiana" by the absolutely fantastic Cymbals Eat Guitars, because I couldn't not post such a great song. Look for more on them soon. Viva la Indiana!

Also considered: Tom Petty - Mary Jane's Last Dance; Sonny Marshall - South Bend, Indiana

mp3: Tom Waits - Gun Street Girl
from the album Rain Dogs (Amazon/iTunes)


mp3: Cymbals Eat Guitars - Indiana
from the album Why There Are Mountains (Amazon/iTunes)


Check out the rest of our SING THE STATES posts!

ALBUM: Trick or Treat

I've been saving this post especially for Halloween...

One of the first exciting finds on my quest to listen to the 1,000 was an old record by the enigmatic Tom Waits called Rain Dogs.

Just a brief history of me and Mr. Waits. His album Mule Variations came out while I was in highschool and I heard a few songs off it through a record label sampler. I'm not gonna lie, these songs scared me pretty bad, and I subsequently never pursued any more of his music. Then, over the last couple years I've heard some of his songs in friend's cars and covered at local shows and thought, "hm, maybe I was too harsh on 'ol Tom. Maybe I should give him a second chance".

So when I saw that Rain Dogs was cited as an essential album I decided to go pick up a copy. I was excited to have my old misconceptions swept away, but when I heard the first few seconds of the first song, Singapore, I thought "Oh no. I've made a huge mistake - this man really is too freaky." This is why:

Tom Waits - Singapore
from the album Rain Dogs (Amazon/iTunes)


Scary, right? (I thought it was a pretty appropriate song for a Halloween post). Well, it took me mustering all of my courage, but after I did, I decided to venture through the rest of the album. And am I glad I did. True, his voice is something of an oddity. And true, his subject matter is usually pretty dark and dank. But man, is he an incredible songwriter - his songs are poetic without pretension, and if you can break through the delivery they are often very affecting. And sometimes, when he drops that creepy-carnival act, he can really pull out some straight up beautiful songs. Like this one from the same album. Enjoy.

Tom Waits - Time
from the album Rain Dogs (Amazon/iTunes)


Happy Halloween!