Ray LaMontagne, Griffin House, Mary Gauthier, Ben Weaver, Joseph Arthur, and Bret Phillips

Bill Flanagan is senior vice president of VH1 and a contributor to my favorite, non-football Sunday morning program, Sunday Morning on CBS. This past Sunday he opened my ears and wallet to some fantastic singer-songwriters, Ray LaMontagne, Griffin House, Mary Gauthier, Ben Weaver, and Joseph Arthur.

In my experience, Mr. Flanagan has consistently presented new music, and new ways of describing music, like a real, honest fan - like the kid from Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous grew up. He has such a pure, flawless love of music that he is able to capture emotion, mood, the essence of the song and translates it to prose equal to the poetry and power of the music. Literally, nothing is lost in his translation. I both admire and envy his ability.

Today was devoted to Ray LaMontagne. (I've linked to his bio, because it's an inspiring read.) I listened to his song, Trouble, two or three dozen times. Suddenly the pile of script edits I had stacked in front of me became managable and the disagreement my wife and I might have had last night seems a distant, faded memory.

So, yeah, the headline is a cheap Technorati plug for my favorite singer-songwriter, but the way I see it is, it's just one more way to grab Mr. Flanagan's notice, and perhaps get Bret on his next list of singer-songwriters to be discovered.

Mr. Flanangan, thanks for stopping by. Perhaps we'll get to talk music sometime.