I downloaded 3 songs from iTunes this week that I’ve been enjoying. The first is No More from Bob Seger’s new self-produced album Face the Promise. I did the music prep. for this song and was at the studio for the string session. The string arrangement is very cool (they are featured in the interlude between verses), the lyrics are great (the second verse starts out “Tomorrow is the price for yesterday”), and it’s an all around solid song.

The second song that I’ve been hitting repeat on over and over is Crossing the Briney from the new Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder CD, Instrumentals. It’s a 7:00 contagious Irish jig featuring Ricky’s bluegrass band with a great orchestral arrangement for strings, horns, and percussion by Jim Gray. I hung out at the orchestra session for this back in April at Jim’s invitation, and was looking forward to hearing the final version. It’s every bit as good as I remembered it being.

Thankful, by Jonny Lang and featuring Michael McDonald with a gospel choir accompanying them, is the third song I downloaded. It’s from Lang’s new album Turn around. I bought it because I wanted to hear Lang’s collaboration with one of my favorite vocalists, Michael McDonald. While I’ve been enjoying it, I still prefer the Jonny Lang / Joss Stone duet on the U2 song When Loves Comes to Town from Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities. So if you’re not familiar with Jonny Lang, check that one out first.