The birth of the internet, my shift from print publications to a music site. The late ’90s/early ’00s were a glorious time to be a music journalist. Coming home after working and finding half a dozen padded manila envelopes with a rubber band holding them all together, all holding CDs that publicists were hoping I’d review. I guess I shouldn’t complain – these days, instead of the daily mail call, it’s the daily email call and I likely get more links to stream/download new releases (even though I barely write anymore) than I got CDs.
I somehow ended up on a few Christian label mailing lists despite not being religious nor focusing on Christian artists. That said, there were some real gems that landed in my mailbox, perhaps my favorite being Aaron Sprinkle’s 2000 album The Kindest Days. That thing was on repeat for months, maybe even a full year. The blog I ran before this one (Swizzle-Stick) is long gone and while some of the content can still be accessed by going to archive.org, my “Favorites of 2000” list may just exist in my memories these days.
For some reason, got to thinking about Aaron Sprinkle tonight and remember just how much I absolutely love this song. I’ve had it on repeat the past 20 minutes and it holds up 20 years later. SO GOOD.