My Musical MVP

Who in your life do you rely on to turn you onto good music? Although I've always had a lot of sources, my brother clearly deserves the MVP (most valuable person) designation over the long run.

Without my brother purchasing a 1984 double LP called "That's The Way I Feel Now", I doubt I would have ever developed the appreciation I have for the compositions of Thelonious Monk. He was also the first person I knew who listened to guitarist Pat Metheny. And though we might have learned about Tom Waits around the same time (as the composer of the Eagles song "Ol' 55"), he was the one brave enough to buy Waits' exceedingly strange early recordings as well as introducing me to an early soulmate of Waits named Rickie Lee Jones. Although I might have started him on Santana and King Crimson and Steely Dan when I got each of their debut albums, he went in very deep with those three artists and has continued to keep me up-to-date with them whenever I get inattentive, lazy or cheap.

To this day, I rely on my brother more than anyone else. The CD mix he made for me last Christmas helped get me into the musical present almost as skillfully as the mix my 22 year old daughter made. Not bad for an old fart. Thanks bro.