I Was Prepared To Not Like It

I wouldn’t say that we’re best friends. At best, we’re acquaintances with some shared background and similar tastes in music; for example, Kevin Jones and I both went to High School in Cedar City, graduating the same year, and we both love The Beatles.

And thanks to the reunion that is FaceBook, we’ve gotten reacquainted and we’ve shared some laughs together.

It’s been nice getting to know Kevin, albeit through a digital medium that is the internet; but it still has value and I appreciate it.

During one of our comment-exchanging episodes on FaceBook, Kevin challenged his friends to name his second-favorite band, The Beatles being the first. I took a few swings at answering his challenge and eventually hit on the correct answer: Genesis. As a result of that answer and my ability to follow his directions on where to post the answer, I was awarded with a copy of his CD, “Tore Dove Horse”.

When the CD arrived in the mail, along with a “Lazy Suzan” T-Shirt that I bought from his website, I promptly set the CD on the counter and didn’t open it until a few weeks later. I would have opened it sooner, but I didn’t.

Finally getting around to opening it and placing it in the CD player, and before pushing ‘play’, I told myself that I was prepared to not like it. That isn’t really like me to be prepared to not like something that a friend has made. I’m a very supportive friend who will lie to you and say that I like something you’ve made, even if it’s not that good. I know, that’s not an honest way to be, but it comes from my companion-approach to friendship. But I have learned to be more honest in my responses, realizing that sometimes, the best way to be a friend is to say what needs to be said and not what I think my friends want to hear.

So after stealing myself with the determination that it would be OK to not like it, I proceeded with pushing play.

I was pleasantly surprised!

There are a lot of really good things about this CD: Kevin’s musicality, the quality of the songs, the backing vocals, the instrumentation and the work that goes into production. Good job, Kevin and supporting cast!

Kevin has a good voice and he’s a very good musician (playing multiple instruments on this CD). I wouldn’t say that Kevin’s voice is the strongest voice I’ve ever heard, but neither was George Harrison’s. What I like about Kevin’s singing, and which is also what I like about George Harrison’s singing, is that it’s honest. Don’t get me wrong, Kevin does have a good voice, but more important than the quality of his voice, is the feeling I get when listening to his singing and his playing; I get the feeling that he is passionate about his music-making and the stories he’s telling. He’s doing something that brings him joy. His passion, combined with a great deal of talent, makes this CD a joy to listen to.

And even though the cover suggests a country-western theme, it’s not a country-western collection of songs.

I’m glad that Kevin had the determination to make this CD and I appreciate the talent of everyone who was involved in helping him make it a reality. And I’m glad that I was prepared to not like it.

I hope he produces more.

If you’re interesting in learning more about Kevin, why he named the CD “Tore Dove Horse”, his sense of humor and his music, you can visit his website: LazySuzanMusic.com