At the end of another year, we spent an evening throwing ideas around as to what we could do to look back on 1997 and encapsulate the year-past with regard to what we like to think we know best -- music. We asked the staff to pick their favorite music of the year and write a short review. The following reviews come from the heart.

What do you think was the best CD of 1997? Let us know and we'll publish your number-one favorite in next month's issue of AMZ!

Here's a band that just so happens to be from where I live. "Crushed," made up of Mark Lauer on vocals and guitar, Mike Halland on guitars, Michael Brown on bass, and Jeff Garten on drums, just may be the next band from the "Valley of the Sun" to gain National attention - following in the footsteps of former locals "The Gin Blossoms." But there's no comparison music wise. "Crushed" has a style all their own.

The band was formed in 1992, when Jeff Garten placed "musicians wanted" ads in both the metal and alternative sections of the afore mentioned New Times. "I didn't want to get musicians with one kind of thinking, one kind of style," explains Garten, who was looking for musicians that were somewhere between "Soundgarden" and "Jane's Addiction." Out of hundreds of responses, only two stood out. Mark Lauer, who Garten was familiar with from the local club scene and knew his vocals would be ideal, and Mike Halland, whose enthusiasm, equipment and musical interests won Garten over. Michael Brown joined a few years later after being totally blown away by a live "Crushed" performance.

The opening track, "Crescent Draggin' Wagon," got it's title from a lady's name in a book (Dragon Wagon) with a few changes made, and in part is about drag racing. The music does sort of have a underlying driving beat that can easily be associated with a drag race, but in true Mark Lauer fashion, the lyrics don't really have anything to do with the title or with racing for that matter. Still, it's a hard driving song with a good beat, great guitar riffs, and an odd guitar line during the verses. "Copper-Colored" starts out with a short East Indian sound that moves into a fast, heavy, driving beat. The vocals are more monotone, in time with the beat, on this one and makes for an interesting effect. About half-way through the song, the pace and melody line change for a short melodic section, then things move back to the original almost monotone sound. The end goes hardcore, then just stops. A very unusual and enjoyable number.

"Incandescence," the song a video has already been shot for, and the most likely first single from the album is up next. This particular song goes in a bit different direction than the previous ones. The musical portion is much lighter, without the heavy underlying bass, and has a wonderful melody throughout. Until you really listen or read the words, it almost appears to be a power ballad, but the lyrics don't support that idea. This is one of those songs where you "have to draw your own conclusions" as far as what it's about. It's also one of the best songs on the album in my opinion.

My other favorite on the album, "Velvet Skin," is up next. This track has an unusual beat, and is actually a much heavier song than you would expect from the title. But the line "feels like Velvet Skin" IS smooth as velvet. Just a hint of harmonies and echoes of the final line at the end really put the exclamation point on this song. "A Burned Out Place" follows, with some unusual noises to start it off, moving into lots of heavy bass. The use of the reverb type microphone that gives that nasal quality to the vocals, goes back and forth with "shouted" vocals and regular vocals for a very effective, grab your attention tune. The use of more monotone vocals on top of the beat and the bass, except in the choruses, also add to the overall effect.

Overall, I have to say this was one hell of a Debut Album. There are so many nuances throughout the entire album, they are too numerous to mention, but make every song a unique listening experience because of how they put emphasis in just the right places. The bass and melody lines blend or clash as the case may be, to come up with a nearly perfect sound on the whole CD. Lead vocalist Mark Lauer has an unbelievable variety of vocal expressions that he puts to very good use, and the band support is impeccable.

"Barenaked Ladies" are a little known band from Toronto. They are neither naked, nor ladies, but you'll get a kick out of listening to them anyway. You may be lucky enough to catch some of their quirky tunes on an alternative station but the best thing you can do is run out and buy this cd. It's a little hard to describe their music, but the best comparison I can make is that they're similar to They Might Be Giants, just more musical.

The funny lyrics are great to listen to and the music is out of this world. A few favorites on the CD are "Hello City," a peppy, jazzy tune, and "If I Had $1,000.000," which is fun, fast, and hilarious. There are also a few slower more thoughtful tunes.

The lyrics are outstanding on all these songs and it's the perfect pick-me- up for a long day or to get going in the morning. Nothing puts a smile on my face like this album.

 I know I sound like a shill for this band, but there aren't a lot of things I'm as passionate about as their music. "This Strange Engine" is the best thing I heard in 1997, hands down! Like the others here at AMZ, I'm in the enviable position of being able to hear a whole lot of music -- music I probably wouldn't get (or in many cases want) otherwise. I hear great stuff and I hear crap, but I keep coming back to this album and wondering just why in the world Marillion has never made it big here in the States. "This Strange Engine" contains some very heartfelt and personal lyrics from singer/songwriter Steve Hogarth. The title track, some seventeen minutes long, is a nearly verbatim account of his childhood and an incredibly rich, vivid and touching song. All the other tracks (nine total) are well-written, tightly played and eminently listenable. "Eighty Days", the second single from the album, is another personal accounting of life on the road and the inspiration of an upcoming book on the band called "Collisions on the Road". "Estonia" is a stirring tribute to the scores of people who lost their lives aboard a ferry boat that sank recently in the Bering Sea.

Many of the more purist fans think the band is going in the wrong direction. I believe that everything Marillion does reflects the maturity of the band and the evolution of a group of musicians who are virtually without peer. I simply cannot wait to hear what they will do next. Fans, of course, will find out all about it on these pages. In the meantime, "This Strange Engine" is, for my money, the best thing out there!

Back at the end of October I went to Sarasota, FL to hear "Janis Ian" in concert (see November Issue). She was playing as part of the Rainbow Acoustic Tour put together by a young Folksinger by the name of "Michael Johnathan". Michael opened the show that night with humorous anecdotes and several songs, most of them off the album, "Woodsongs." His music, his energy, his humor, and his outlook on life so impressed me so much that I made it a point after the show to talk with him and get a copy of this CD to review for the magazine. Imagine my surprise when I not only got a CD, but a book too!

It seems Michael decided to write a book about Folk singing and his involvement with the music and people that make up the world of Folk. The book is also called "Woodsongs: A Folksinger's Social Commentary, Cook Manual & Songbook" and in writing it he also discovered the theme for the CD. The two are available as a package deal in most large bookstores for a price that's fairly comparable to the CD alone.

After listening to the album and reading his book I spoke with Michael in late Decemeber about these releases, his singing and the tour.

AMZ: How is the Rainbow Acoustic Tour doing?

MJ: That is almost done for the year, I've got one more swing and then I'm done on December 15th. Then I go into the recording studio for about 8 weeks to work on the next record. Then the tour starts up again in February.

AMZ: So have you already written some new songs for your next album?

MJ: Oh yeah, I'm in song overload We are trying to whittle it down to what it should be, what the spirit of the record should be about. It's a lot of thought you know.

AMZ: Have you picked some old ones to put on it?

MJ: Actually it's going to have two covers, if you will -- old songs. One song I'm going to do is called "Ora Lee." I don't know if you are familiar with it but it's the old ballad that predates the civil war that became Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" - but it's original form is called "Ora Lee" and I'm going to play it on the banjo and we are going to have a mandolin and a string quartet. It's a very beautiful song about love gone wrong. It's nothing like the Elvis version of it. But a really, really pretty song.

AMZ: Sounds like it will be a real addition to the album.

MJ: Yes, it keeps it in that focus, the CD is going to be called "The Road" and it's really going to be like a journey through life, not being on the road, but life's journey and different things that affect it and "Ora Lee" is just an interesting love song and we all know that's part of everybody's journey.

AMZ: I wanted to ask if you are still doing the children's concerts, I know you talked about them in your book.

MJ: Yeah, I have not done that for years.

AMZ: I wanted to ask about the book because it is interesting, you do a CD that is really nice and I really enjoyed it, and then you decide to write a book to go with it - why the book?

MJ: Actually the thought of the book came first, the CD occurred as I was trying to write the book.

AMZ: Did some of the CD come out of your writing the book then in a sense?

MJ: Pretty much, the song "Woodsong" did. It wasn't until I wrote the song, "Woodsong," the title song, did the whole thing fall into place. I was really struggling what to use the opportunity to write the book about. I didn't know how best to use it. I couldn't write an autobiography because no one knows who I am. I couldn't write a song book because I never had a hit record. I didn't want to write a novel because the world's full of fake stories, I didn't need to contribute another one. And what I know best is being a Folksinger, Folk music and this world that I live in. When the song "Woodsong" was written, it gave me the goal of what the book should be about. And that really was to get people to have fun with Folk music again, to have fun with their own art, especially people that used to play and then quit.

AMZ: Seeing that you were playing with people like Tom Paxton and Janice Ian in concert - where's the next generation of Folk singers coming from?

MJ: Oh, well they are here already. It's changed though, because they are more, I don't know if you want to get lost in how things get defined, because it really doesn't matter as long as the music is good, but most of the people that are referred to today as Folk singers are really singer, song writers that play acoustic music.

AMZ: I read your definition of the difference between Folksinging and songwriting in the book. Even then, I'm looking at the next generation after Dylan and the others, Springsteen, I think that you called a Folk singer - where are the youngsters - is there interest there? I mean you did those concerts.

MJ: I think so, definitely, yes there is, the world of bluegrass and Celtic music is just exploding with young people as they take an interest more and more. And it's great that people write their own songs, but see, the nature of Folk music and Folk singer is that you are also carrying the treasures of the past forward with you in the body of your work. I mean Dylan is a perfect example of a Folk singer that writes his own brilliant songs but he is constantly playing tunes of past generations, as a matter of fact his last two albums, the solo albums, were all just Folk and blues songs from the past. Springsteen does that, he'll play "This Land is Your Land" in concert and other songs. Springsteen's big dream was to be a Folk singer. He got too big for that.

AMZ: You mentioned "This Land Is Your Land." I guess it's probably common knowledge, but I didn't know as a kid in Junior High School that "This Land is Your Land," was a big hit for Pete Seeger. I can still sing the whole first verse.

MJ: It was Woody Guthrie's response to Irving Berlin's, "God Bless America". But Pete Seeger is the one who sang it to the public. He was the driving force behind the song at first and that didn't happen until 10 years or more after Woody wrote it. The song sat dormant for over a decade.

AMZ: I've got to say it must be in every junior high school song book.

MJ: Oh, easily. It was almost voted to replace The Star Spangled Banner as our National Anthem in 1958, right at the height of the McCarthy HUAC hearings. Right at the height of anti-Communism, you are voting on a Communist anthem to be the Star Spangled Banner replacement. Kind of funny. Very ironic; it's a good story.

AMZ: I love in the book how you bring the past forward by relating it to all the people that you met and had a chance to talk with and play with. People like Homer Ledford and Pete Seeger, and Janice, of course because you are on tour with Janice and Odetta, who is a fascinating lady, I loved reading about her and seeing her in concert with you. It must have been a joy to work with someone like that.

MJ: It is, because you learn so much, it brings the music full circle. You know, when I was a kid I first heard Odetta's voice on a Janice Ian record (The Hymn?). Yeah, got to record with Odetta, do a music video with her and then, there we are on stage with Janice and Odetta. I mean, you could imagine what that felt like.

AMZ: Well, I could see that you were really enjoying it. And one of the things I noticed is that you all really enjoy yourselves when you are up there doing that concert.

MJ: Well, it's a good audience.

AMZ: Well, Sarasota - I guess - Odetta - there is a background there, because there was a story about her in the St. Petersburg Times -- about her 50th anniversary in show business. Apparently Sarasota is a local area for her. Obviously that lent to the atmosphere of the occasion, but I would think you'd get that same kind of response on the road most anyplace you go.

MJ: Yes, and look how long they have been out there. They have cultivated their audience for decades. It's like that night -- I think there was some guy, I was roaming the audience saying hello to people before the show, and some guy asked me "So how does it feel to be the runt ?" I kind of said, "Runt?" Yeah I'm the runt. That's sad, but I am.

AMZ: You seem to be the in between generations - who would you consider to be your peers in the industry right now? Considering you are playing with Janice and the others that would be a generation before, who would be out there with you if you were doing a tour with people your same age? Did you ever consider putting together a tour like that? Of contemporary Folk artists?

MJ: I think people like John McCutcheon, John Gorka, and Greg Brown. You know if you go to the Newport Folk Festival, the Strawberry Festival and to the big Florida Folk Festival, you will usually see all those people there. So a tour like that is not really necessary because the younger Folks are energetic and they are out there anyway. It's getting together the icons, if you will. It's getting someone like Janice and Tom and Odetta together for an evening. That's the hard part.

AMZ: And I understand that was kind of your doing ?

MJ: Well I am getting a lot of credit for it. I came up with the idea, but the Griffin and Martha agency - they are the ones that did it.

AMZ: Someone had to come up with the idea - take credit where credit is due.

MJ: Yeah, well within reason. Odetta and I did the duet together and you know I was asked if you could go out with somebody, who would it be? Obviously adding Janice to it, because Janice is the one that I originally heard Odetta from, and one of my favorite songwriters in the world is Tom Paxton. You know what they say, 'be careful of what you ask for because you may get it.' There is a case of that - there is a good example Donn - right there.

AMZ: Do you feel like it puts a lot of pressure on you being on the stage with a group like that? I am just curious because sometimes it would be like, I am there with all my idols, the people I grew up listening to, performing!

MJ: No, it's fun. Plus, one of the things I like about the Folk music world and the Folk community is that there are really no stars in Folk music. The star is the song and the audience and the singer is more of messenger between the two. Very, very rarely -- usually it's only in the younger generation -- do you get that 'I am a star' attitude. I mean Tom and Odetta and Janice are grounded and down to earth, they have been there 100 times and they're just people working hard like anyone else, so there is no reason to feel unworthy, you know. I am completely confident in the fact that I have paid my dues to get there. I have no doubt that I've earned my place.

AMZ: I still marvel at the fact that you would be able to find a town with the name Mousie to reside in.

MJ: Isn't that something? It's a real place too.

AMZ: I would think that Disney would be all over you. (chuckle)

MJ: Yeah, it was named after one of the guys that started it. The families last name was Packett and his wife's name was Mousie and her sister's name was Minnie. And so on the other side of the mountain from Mousie is another hamlet called Minnie.

AMZ: Oh, that's really good.

MJ: You can take the joke from there, Donn.

AMZ: Let me ask you a personal question, just out of curiosity. The book was dedicated to your daughter, Melody. What does Melody think of her Dad the Folk singer?

MJ: She wishes I had more of a back beat.

AMZ: If she a fan of Folk music or does she like...

MJ: All kinds of music, yeah definitely all kinds, she's like into that typical little girl song. (Like the Barbie song?) No not so much, more like "Spice Girls." To me the words "Spice Girls" and revolting are parallel meanings. But that's what she likes.

AMZ: So, sometimes, I am sure when you go places, I don't want to say you are asked to perform, but the tendency is that you always have the guitar or banjo with you, and you are liable to take it out and play. I would imagine, then, her reaction is "Oh Dad!".

MJ: Actually no, you grow up and you are used to it. It's part of the lifestyle of the family if you will. I've got another daughter, she is five years old and it's our habit when I am home, her Mom will read her one or two stories every night, and then Dad goes in with his banjo and sings her two or three songs. We have one song called the Rachel song that it's up to Rachel to make up the lyrics for it on the spot. So she does, you know you have to practice what you preach.

AMZ: Do you think there might be a Rachel song on the next CD?

MJ: No... That would be too personal. Maybe if I ever did a children's record. If I ever did a children's record that would be a fun thing to do.

AMZ: Would that be a thought, doing a children's record?

MJ: I've been asked about that. Actually what has been in the conversation, because I did so many of those earth concerts in school, is to actually record an Earth concert live. So that schools would have an environmental concert to play in the classrooms. And a video perhaps, too, the whole works. Yeah, those things worked good. We did over 2,000 shows in a four year time period to 2 1/2 million kids, mostly high school and college and that was a lot of work.

AMZ: Would you think of reaching down a little lower in the grade level?

MJ: Well I did a lot of the grammar school ones and I tell you what, if you can play to a grammar school and hold them, then you can play to any audience on the planet.

AMZ: I wanted to go back to the songwriting/ Folksinging, your definitions that you use, I found it rather interesting. Isn't any songwriter really a Folksinger in the sense that nothing is really new it's always to a certain extent borrowed?

MJ: Yeah, a new song is the results of things you've learned before.

AMZ: But what you are saying though is a Folksinger actually takes old songs and presents them again, but they're still those songs. Is that the difference between a Folksinger and a songwriter.

MJ: I don't know how to answer that. A Folksinger can write and sing their own songs, again going back to Dylan, everybody's big example of a Folksinger, I mean his claim to fame is the songs he wrote himself. It's the fact that he keeps, you know my example of music being a chain, and then a songwriter keeps adding new links to the chain. A Folksinger is the one who reaches back and grabs links from the past and brings them forward within the body of their work. See that's what Dylan does, he keeps reaching backwards and brings Big Bill Brunsey, Lightning Hopkins and songwriters from the past, Woody Guthrie and stuff and he brings those songs within his body of work to his generation of listeners - that's what a Folksinger does. So you know having said that, you know Folksingers are going to be writing their own songs and stuff. The focus though to a Folksinger is not really going to be based solely on their work. It's going to be on the work of others and how it affected their music and their lives and trying to present that to their audience. That's really the fun part - to me that's what makes it interesting. That's what makes this whole idea of what we are doing so fun.

AMZ: Let me ask you, if you were -- and this is a hypothetical question, I'm not wishing that anything like this should happen, but if you should die tomorrow, what would you like to be written on your tombstone?

MJ:On my tombstone? Easy... 'He was in tune.'

AMZ: And you play a Banjo? (laugh)

MJ: Yeah, in parenthesis (and he played a banjo) he was in tune. Put that on there and I'll be a happy man.

AMZ: I don't know why I asked that. For some strange reason it popped in my mind. Maybe I was thinking about the wood carvings that you talked about in the book and the one on cover of the album which is really pretty.

MJ: Yeah, Home Ledford did that.

AMZ: Yes and I also loved the poem "The Weaver and the Wood".

MJ: Yeah, I liked that too. I don't want to get all braggie and boast about it, but I like that one a lot.

AMZ: When I came to Sarasota, to see Janis Ian it was to do her as the feature artist. It was worthwhile also because I discovered, you know I shouldn't say that - it sounds terrible, but I discovered you in a sense personally. You know, your music.

MJ: Oh that's fine - that's how it's done isn't it?

AMZ: I appreciate the kind of work you do. It's the kind of music that makes life enjoyable.

MJ: I sure am glad you took an interest Donn - it means a lot and I really appreciate it.