It really is as simple as that

This post is dedicated to Melissa, since she is the only one who reads this and has been telling me to write another entry.


There are many musicians that I love and many songs that complete my life. Without The Beatles, I wouldn't exist. George Harrison is one of the greatest loves of my life. Bob Dylan is beyond human to me. Joni Mitchell holds the world inside of her voice. The Avett Bros. always know how to make me smile. If I ever had the chance to meet Jenny Lewis, I would run away because I could never bring myself to talk to her. I can keep on naming them, but there are two people that have touched my life in profound ways.






I have many people and many things that make up my soul, but these two men with their music own it. These songs are perfect to me. Their writing is perfect. Their voices are perfect. Their music is perfect. These two men right here are everything I love about music.

Ryan has been in my life for quite a few years longer than Johnny has. His music has been a constant in my life. His music never fails to move me. It makes me smile, rock out, cry, everything. The other night I put on "Love is Hell" and I found myself crying during "Hotel Chelsea Nights" because not only is it a brilliant song, but it's as if you can feel Ryan when listening to it. The words ring true and his soul speaks through every single note. Every single second on every single one of his albums, you can hear his heart and his soul. There is not one single moment in which you aren't aware just how much he gets music. Just take a look at this entry from his blog from 13 April 2008 17:52

“this is the first and last thing i see every day. ever fucking day.
because being in this position i am in means i must work four times

as hard as i did when i worked a 9 to 5. because this should not ever

feel like anything but a gift. to be worked for. every fucking day.

that is what i think anyway.

Earlier tonight I watched a video of him singing, "Oh My Sweet Carolina" and afterwards, I wrote this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_U_ftrz20Y I just... words can't even describe my feelings for this man. He is music. He is love. He is art. He is passion. He is everything. I have listened to "Oh My Sweet Carolina" more times that I can count, but I am seriously sitting here crying right now as if I have never in my life heard it before.

He is the moon and I am the tide. He moves me so.

The second musician, John Gallagher Jr., had originally spoken to me immensely through his performance in Spring Awakening, but it took less than 2 seconds for me to attach myself to his music. The amount of work I have heard by his is far less than other musicians that I love, but it was impossible for me to not fall completely head over heels in love with the music he has created. I am so grateful that I have had the chance to meet Johnny on numerous occassions and to be able to share with him exactly how much his music means to me, although I don't think he will ever fully understand how much it has touched me and the impact it has had on my life. He is one of those people that if he ever stopped making music, I would be beyond heartbroken. "John Gallagher" and "music" to me go together like the sun and the sky: one brings life into the other and without it, there would only be darkness and beauty would never be seen.

"The Buried Boy" means everything in the world to me. I had first heard the song last October I believe, and I had already loved everything Johnny was doing musically, but I heard that song and that was it for me. I don't understand how someone so young can write something so unbelievably perfect and beautiful. How does one get to be that talented? I have done nothing great in my life ever, and here this guy is creating flawless music as if it's nothing. When listening to his music, I sometimes wonder if he is aware of exactly how talented he is. I like to think that he is like Ryan in believing that writing music is a gift that is to be worked for every day.

Sometimes I think that I spend way too much time growing attached to these artists and to the masterpieces they create. Perhaps maybe music is just music and I let myself get too deeply involved in my love for it. I don't know....