Over at All Songs Considered, the latest Tiny Desk Concert was posted today and it’s none other than Birmingham, AL native and former Azure Ray member Maria Taylor performing a very cool 3 song set list. The first couple songs are from her latest album, LadyLuck, which is actually one of my pleasant surprises of the year considering I wasn’t expecting much after 2007’s disappointing Lynn Teeter Flower, a follow up to her impressive debut 11:11. But her songwriting skills have come full circle and really shine through on LadyLuck and it may be the most personal of all her heart on sleeve releases. It’s a very intimate set and actually used no amplification at all…pretty sweet. Oh, and while reading the little intro to the set, I found out that Azure Ray is planning a reunion tour and a new album…so that was kind of a cool nugget to slip in there.
To this day, one of my favorite concert going experiences was seeing Maria’s entire family get up on stage and play along as she closed out her set for a show back when she opened for Bright Eyes in B’ham at the Alabama Theatre (she was dating Conor Oberst at the time). It was cool seeing the entire Taylor clan up on stage rocking out and clearly enjoying Maria’s homecoming concert (brother Macey is part of Oberst’s Mystic Valley Band, and sister Kate has a burgeoning solo career). Anyway, I definitely recommend spending 10 minutes of your day by giving her Tiny Desk Concert a listen, and while you’re there, check out some of the other live concerts NPR offers.
[“Time Lapse Lifeline” – LadyLuck]
A Round of Sound 
[…] mentioned this one here, but the more I thought about it, the more I concluded that it probably is my biggest surprise of […]