The Friday Five...

Haven't done one of these in a very long time so here is this week's edition, from The Friday Five.

1. What is your favorite song right now? Why?
"Sailor" by Hem from their very first CD, "Rabbit Songs." It's a beautiful, quiet love song with a cool french horn solo in the middle.

2. What genre of music makes you the happiest?
Jazz - because it's so emotional and improvisational.

3. What would you name your band and what kind of music would you play?
In a perfect world I'd have a jazz ensemble called The John Matlock Group, or Trio, or Quartet, whatever it ended up being.

4. What is your favorite lyric of all time? Why?
Don't have just one, sorry. Lyrics are my thing. For this question, I'll choose Terry Scott Taylor's lyric from "Art Carney's Dream" - 'then, an angel tapped me on the shoulder and said 'boy, you sure you do smell like sin and this place is pretty crowded but I, I think we can squeeze you in!'" (The entire song is brilliant; see it here.)

5. What band/artist could you never live without? Why?
Again, too many to name just one. At the moment, it's Hem. I finally bought their very first CD and have been listening to it this week. Their songs are consistently great in lyricism and tunes. Moreover, I think it's cool that they've stuck to their guns and made the records they wanted to make, no matter the cost. And they're all over the new Liberty Mutual Insurance commercials!