Inspiration: Charlotte Martin

Four years ago this August I moved to New York City.

Four years ago today I was packing up my room in Kenosha, WI and freaking out about the fact that I was moving to New York City.

During the intense packing and preparing that I was doing for the biggest life change I would have to date, I took breaks to take my mind off the immediate. I spent a lot of time on Pandora Internet radio looking for new artists and trying to find music that spoke to my current mood/situation. It was through Pandora that I first heard Charlotte Martin, an artist whose music is now such a part of my life that I can not imagine her music not being on my ipod.

The first song I heard was the track "Something Like A Hero" off her On Your Shore album. I remember feeling immediately that the song was resonating deep inside me with its rhythmic piano punching the down beats. Then her amazingly versatile and emotive voice challenged me to come along for a ride.

"Hello Boys, got directions to the bomb shell factory..."

I was in.

By the time the incredible breakdown begins at the end of the song, I had already opened iTunes and purchased her On Your Shore album.

As I do whenever I buy a new album, I turned off the lights and laid down as the music began. I am still a believer in "Albums" so I love to hear them the first time through uninterrupted as a whole piece. The sound of a small string section crying out in longing pulls you into the first strike of the piano key, and then the album takes off. There are very few albums that I love from beginning to end, but I knew from that first moment that this was going to be one of them.

On Your Shore takes you on an incredible emotional ride that somehow leaves you completely satisfied yet craving more. Four years later, this album still feels fresh and is constantly drawing me back to its shore. So much in fact that every song on the album makes it into my ipods top 50 most played songs list. If you know me and how my ipod is basically surgically implanted onto me, you know this is quite a feat.

That August, when I left everything I knew to follow my dreams, her music was an amazing comfort that filled in some of the gaps inside me. That fall, I got to see her live and met her and after that I knew I would be a lifelong fan. I have since bought every album she has every released and can whole heartedly recommend all of them. She is simply one of those artists that speaks my language, speaks to what I know to be true, speaks to my soul.

If you know her, I'm sure you love her. If you don't, you definitely need to remedy that quickly.

In honor of its placement as the number one played song on my ipod, (Hint: It's over 200 plays... which I am now realizing is almost 12 hours of my life.) Here is her song "Every Time it Rains."