The Shins : Young Pilgrims

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Saturday Morning Flashback: 2003.

I feel like I have been taking The Shins for granted lately given that they are the band that changed everything for me.

I first heard them on a mix CD titled "Driving The Georgia 400" that my friend Kathryn Harvey brought with her on a trip to The Bahamas in early 2003. It was made by her friend Tom Brady, who would end up becoming my partner in The MusicFile, though we had not even met at the time.

This two CD set contained all of this amazing music by bands that I had never heard before, Yo La Tengo, The White Stripes, Grandaddy and The Shins among them. I was blown away. Who were these bands? Why weren't they on the radio? How come I didn't know about them?

When Kathryn left, I made her leave one of the two Cd's with me for the rest of my vacation. I had just quit my job and was trying to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and that CD pretty much set the stage. A year later, I returned to the same island, this time with The Shins second album Chutes Too Narrow on heavy rotation and began working on the original concept of The MusicFile. I played this song non stop...being the Young Pilgrim that I was; trying desperately not "to crash the whole mess into the sea".

It is hard for me to fathom how much the world of music has changed in the last six years and how many great bands have now found a much larger audience... and the role we have tried to play in that journey. Thank you Shins!

by The Shins from Chutes Too Narrow

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