This began as  a post about Sharon Jones, who I will get to in a minute. First, a digression. You know sometimes you're looking for new music but don't know how to find it because they never tell you who's singing the songs on the radio?

Or you say, (for example), "Gee, I'd like to find some new music and I really like Aretha Franklin, but the old Aretha, not the crazy hat Aretha?"

Well check this thing out.

Okay, ladies, I don't know how this works, but I do know that it works. Click on any name in the tag cloud below and you'll find some fellow Aretha travelers across time and genres. This is so cool.

Back to Sharon Jones, and it's so good to be alive in the summer time with a new Sharon Jones album out. We saw her twice last year when she was touring with the Dap-Kings and made it to Western Mass. We hope she doesn't get so famous she won't visit the boonies anymore.

If you haven't listened to Sharon, you have to do so right now.  It's tight tight stuff like the stuff you loved in junior high. Only she's our age.

Here's a recent Terry Gross Fresh Air  interview with Sharon.

And here's a link to her new album: I Learned the Hard Way.

(TIP: AMAZON downloads are $3 cheaper than ITunes!)

And here's where you can catch the Dap-Kings this summer.

                                                                          --BJ Roche