Mount Righteous

I might just have a new favorite band.

But first, a little Lillian musical background.

I have a very wide selection of musical interests. My favorites as a young girl mainly consisted of showtunes and Disney songs. I've had all the colors in Joseph's amazing technicolor dreamcoat memorized since I was about seven. (Red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ocher and peach …) And, of course, I've always had a fondness for the folk music I was raised on. Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger, etc. And, of course, we can't forget the Beatles.

In elementary school, I listened to Faith Hill, Sarah McLachlan, the Backstreet Boys, N*Sync and the Spice Girls. Even now, I really appreciate popular music. I went to a Hanson concert last October. Yes, Hanson.

In high school, my major musical loves were John Mayer, Weezer and Ben Folds (and more showtunes). In my later years of high school, I was introduced to Rilo Kiley, Neutral Milk Hotel, Sufjan Stevens and Death Cab for Cutie. I guess that's where my interest in so-called "indie" music began.

Nowadays, I will listen and want to listen to pretty much anything, including bluegrass, country, rap, hip hop, punk, folk, rock, pop, electro. Put something in front of me and I will check it out. Probably the only music I just cannot make myself like are screamo, emo, Christian music of the annoying variety (this doesn't include hymns and old religious songs), and some of the more disgusting and/or degrading rap songs.

My favorite songs are inevitably the ones that leave me feeling really ridiculously happy, and let me tell you, you don't get much happier than Mount Righteous' album called "When the Music Starts."

Let me introduce you to the band – the ELEVEN-piece band. There's a sousaphone, snare drum, xylophone, accordion, bass drum, melodica, a few acoustic guitars and two trombones. Everything they play is completely acoustic – no mics, no amps, no synthesizer, no electric instruments whatsoever. As it states on their MySpace, they sound like a "happy marching band choir."

Just a few examples of their lyrics:

Lollipop roads custom made for painted toes
all landscaped by people in the know
I've never been there, but I've heard it's gorgeous.
Walking the streets, you wave hello
to all the birds you meet (tweet, tweet).
The bumble bees will never sting your feet,
Well, they're too busy making honey.

Don't worry baby there are cupcakes in the sky
Everything will be alright, you're the apple of my eye.
We'll take a paper airplane flight into the licorice night.
- from "Licorice Night"

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Love the world a little more,
Give them what they're hurtin' for.
Open up both your arms and stretch them wide.
Learn, learn, learn a little more,
Ignorance is such a bore.
Learn and then you can soar above the lies.

Run, run, run while you can,
God will hold you in his hands,
Set your feet back on the ground when you fall down.
Give, give, give a little more,
Of your live so sweet and pure.
When you give all your love you shine, shine, shine.
- from "A Little More"

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Never met a martyr but I met a lotta men,
Never met a zero, never met a ten.
If I ever met a hero I could tell you then,
But I never met anyone quite like you, my friend.
One, two, three, four you're the one that I adore.
Four, three, two, one, now I'm telling everyone.

Met a lotta chicks, met a lotta dudes.
Met a lotta not a lotta never like you.
- from "You the Magic Number"

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Doesn't it just make you go :-) ?
You should check them out.