treeThere were a few CDs I really got into in 2007, and one of them was ‘Orphans’ by Tom Waits. I love his sound: deep, rough voice with a variety of folky/bluesy sounds, upbeat and downbeat. I love his words: I can’t vouch for all his lyrics (or language) but, generally, they’re rich and deep. It’s great music to study to!

One of the things that I heard about him was that when he’s written a song he goes and buries it down in the shed somewhere for a few months to stew. He then digs it up again to see if it’s worth keeping or changing or recording. Isn’t that cool! Has anyone else heard that story?? Sometimes I think I should do that kind of thing for my sermons… Anyway, Tom’s both familiar and unlike any artist I’ve heard but definitely worth checking out.

For fellow fans or those interested, Ben Myers has written a little piece on Tom Waits the Theologian. It’s good, check it out: http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html