arthur alligood

At some point, I switched my allegiance from Shelfari to goodreads. Shelfari is cool and all, but I prefer the looks of goodreads, it's easier to navigate & update, and so on. But I'm thankful my Shelfari friends still send me kind notes. Like Arthur Alligood.

Not too long ago, he sent a note saying I might like his new EP - Full Circle - because I love anything written by Flannery O'Connor. I heed the advice of any Flannery devotee, and oh yeah, Arthur Alligood's EP is available as a free download. I quickly hopped over to his web site.

The download was easy and I also received a PDF of the liner notes. I scanned those notes to see that Arthur's EP was mixed & mastered by Andrew Osenga. That caught my eye because anything to do with Andrew Osenga is sheer genius.

To recap: I had a Shelfari friend w/great taste in books, a free EP offer, Flannery O'Connor, and Andrew Osenga. Could it get any better? Why, yes. Arthur Alligood's music is wonderful. Truly, I love an eclectic variety of genres, but folkish tunes will always hold a special place in my heart. My ears perk up to well-written, raw, acoustic songs. Two such examples are Patty Griffin's Living With Ghosts and Over the Rhine's Good Dog Bad Dog albums. What I learned from both CDs is - if songs adorned only by vocals and guitar (and/or piano) are good, then you've got very talented songwriters on your hands. What I really love about the bare bones of a song are honesty, simplicity, and poetry.

Arthur Alligood's Full Circle EP falls under this category. I've listened to it - one song flowing into another - several times now. His guitar is lovely, as is his voice, and I find a lot of wisdom in his lyrics. All six songs are great, but two of my favorites are "Keep Your Head Up" and "Miles From Your Mind."

And the confessional, "Long Haul":

You take notice and I ain't worth a glance
Know my needs and provide for them
A cup of wrath I deserve on my head
but a cup of grace You pour instead

You can do no wrong it seems I never do right
You're in it for the long haul mostly
I'm just looking for one night

You're the reason we're friends at all
Why I stopped fighting, laid down my sword
Without Your love oh, I'm lost
You see me in the distance
come running just to wrap me
in Your arms

A cup of wrath I deserve on my head
but an ocean of grace You pour instead.

I know many of you love great music as well, so pay Arthur Alligood's site a visit today and download his EP. It's free for God's sake, and really, really good. I can't wait to hear more of his songs. After you fall in love with Full Circle, be sure to direct your friends to Arthur's web site, too. They will thank you.