Gregorian Chants

 You know how they say that music can help us through dark times, bring us so many different emotions and even make us feel like we are traveling to another world.

Now we can get these feelings through all kinds of amazing music, whether it be heavy metal, rock, pop, r'n'b, rap, hip-hop, country, blues, you name it, it does it. But there are also plenty of music out there that not many people mention them. And one of those I really enjoy listening to is called a Gregorian Chant.

Singing has always been apart of church worshiping since the early days of Christianity. What I find beautiful about them are you can sing them with or without music being played.

Just something about Gregorian Chants have always been magical to me. They have always been one of my go to music to listen to when I feel the need to relax and stay calm. Hearing the beauty of the melodies just teleports me to another world. Its like I am in the presence of angels and reminds me that God is always there no matter what happens.

I mainly hear the chants from Roman Catholic churches. But a fun fact about the Gregorian Chants is that they are sung in Latin. I never knew until I learned about them. Which makes sense as I have always wondered what people were saying throughout each chant.

I also love watching monks sing them in their robes while walking around the cathedral. It feels even better when it is completely dark and the only light you see is with the candles.

It just makes everything seem so peaceful. Like nothing bad can ever exist and no harm will come to you. To be honest I think we all can use something like that in our lives.

So if you ever need something to help you relax or just want to feel God's Presence around you, listen to Gregorian Chants. You will not be disappointed.

God Bless and Be Safe Everybody 🙏🙏🙏

Love You All 

The Cranberries

 One of my personal favorite bands to listen to and in my humble opinion, one of the best bands in music history. The Cranberries!

The Cranberries were formed in 1989 under the name of The Cranberry Saw Us but they had a different lead singer before Dolores O'Riordan came on board in 1990. Other members include Mike and Neil Hogan as well as Fergal Lawler.

They were one of the reasons why I truly enjoyed being a 90s kid. They were also a very important influence on my life and for that I am forever grateful.

It is no secret about my battles with mental health and self-harming, but the Cranberries helped me through a lot of those feelings. Even to this very day, when I turn on a song and hear Dolores' voice it makes me feel so safe and that there is beauty even in the more darkest of times.

Just to name a few, some of the hits that the Cranberries created were songs like Dreams, Zombie, Salvation and personally my favorite being Linger which was released back in the early 90s. WOW I feel old lol.

But going back to Dolores, she was such a beautiful soul and her voice and the stories told with the music was truly amazing. There was so much meaningful stuff she was talking about in her lyrics and I didn't realize how much they were helping me get through some tough times until I got older.

Just reading about her story and what she went through in her personal life and continuing to push forward was such an inspiration to me.

With that being said, it stung when I found out that she had passed away. I mean, it really hurt me deep inside. And I still can't believe that it has been a little over six years since the world lost such a beautiful soul. I miss the Cranberries a lot and still wish they were here playing. But pray for Dolores to be at peace and pray for her family and the other members along with many others who's hearts were touched by the Cranberries.

Thank God though we all can just look up the Cranberries and continue to play their amazing music on the internet and I encourage everyone to listen.

RIP Dolores! Love and Miss you and the Cranberries!

God Bless and Be Safe Everybody. 

Jelly Roll

 Recently there has been a new artist that has really caught my eye and his name is Jelly Roll. He is a rapper/country music singer.

To be perfectly honest with all of you, I thought Jelly Roll was a brand new artist, but as I was doing some research for this blog post, I discovered that he has been at it since the early 2000s. As his first mixtape came out all the back in 2003. In fact, his first studio album wasn't until 2011. Talk about keep working at it.

The first time I had ever heard from Jelly Roll was back in 2021 when he came out with the Ballads of The Broken Album. And the song that caught my attention was the song called Dead Man Walking, which is still one of my favorite songs to listen to today.

He has also had a few more songs that I have really enjoyed such as Even Angels Cry, Son of A Sinner, Need A Favor and Save Me.

His music has really spoken to me, it really brought me hope that no matter how dark the world made seem to be, that there is always hope.

I also find it very interesting how he was able to turn his life around and now uses it to help other people who are out there struggling with anything in life and it is truly amazing what he has done.

Jelly Roll has gotten to perform in some incredible places like the Grand Ole Opry and had won the New Artist of the year award during the 57th Annual Country Music Association Awards.   

I continue to pray for Jelly Roll as he continues his music career and thank him for inspiring me to keep pushing forward and follow my dreams.

I also wish him well in his quest to end the use of fentanyl and other drug problems.

God Bless you Jelly Roll and I really insist on more people checking out his music.

God Bless and Be Safe everybody! 🙏🙏🙏

Godsmack

 It has been a while since I had written about some of my favorite music that I love to listen to and since back in early 2023 it had come to my attention that Godsmack had released their final album called Lighting Up The Sky.

It's crazy to think that one of the bands that was a very part of my life growing up had created their final album. Of course as we all know, nothing lasts forever. Now to be fair, the band did say that they will continue touring long after the fact so that is cool to hear.

It is also crazy to think that Godsmack has been around since the mid 90s. And to see how far they have come is truly amazing.

Their debut album "All Wound Up" came out in 1997. But it was their next album "Godsmack in 1998 really hooked me in. The song that first really got my attention was Voodoo. Not as much the song itself which still is amazing to listen to even to this very day. But the music video for the song, it was so amazing!

Along with Voodoo, I really enjoy listening to songs like Whatever, Keep Away, Awake, Spiral, Vampires, I Stand Alone, Re-Align, Releasing The Demons, 1000HP, Under Your Scars.

But my personal favorite has to be Serenity. You guys have no idea how much I loved this song, every time I play that song it just takes me to another world where nothing can ever harm me, including myself. I would even go on record and say this song is one of the beautifully done songs I have ever heard.

I would also like to say, that Godsmack's unplugged show in the House of Blues was an amazing show that I still listen to today and I would dare go as far and say that it was one of if not the best Unplugged show ever. But that is just my humble opinion.

It is so cool to see these guys continue to produce music and these guys are also a reminder that appreciate this music now because you never know when it will all come to an end.

God Bless you guys! And best of luck in your future. 🙏🙏🙏

ACDC

 You can not go wrong with such a legendary rock and roll band named ACDC and in my humble opinion, they still are just as amazing now as they were back in 1973.

Now that I think about it, I can not believe that this band has been around for 50 years. But then again, ACDC rules! So I guess it shouldn't be so surprising.

As I was researching about ACDC, I discovered that the band was formed back in the land down under in Sydney, Australia. I never knew that which is pretty cool.

I also learned throughout my time reading about the band was that they had not one but two big time singers throughout their run. The first being Bon Scott who tragically passed away back in 1980 (RIP) then later joined by Brian Johnson and have been the frontman ever since.

My first memory of ACDC was probably one of my favorite memories of my childhood. Especially because it was with my father. 

I remember getting ready along with my twin brother Chad to had down to stay over at Nan and Pap's house as my father went to work. He would just pop in the ACDC cassette tape into his truck, that's right I said cassette tape 😂 and we be head banging all the way down to Nan and Pap's house.

With having a 50 year career, it is a pretty safe bet that they had plenty of amazing songs to listen to lol. Such songs like rock and roll ain't noise pollution, dirty deeds, shoot to thrill, you shook me all night long, thunderstruck.

My personal favorite is Back in Black.

Again, being around for 50 years it is truly incredible how much that they had achieved and most of it was before the internet. But now with the internet, millions of people get to listen to the awesomeness that is ACDC.

Keep on rocking ACDC!

Slaine

 One of my favorite rappers or really just artists to listen to is called Slaine. This man has been putting in work since the early 2000s, but it wasn't until I first started listening to a rap group called La Coka Nostra and when I discovered that he as well as many other members had solo records, I immediately jumped on and became a major fan.

What I love about listening to Slaine is just how honest he is about everything that he raps about. I honestly feel like I can relate in some way with what he is saying. His writing is incredible, he is just blunt and straight to the point with how he feels in a lot of ways which I admire.

Thanks to Slaine, I have also gotten to listening to other rappers like Ill Bill along with other underground musicians who to be perfectly honest, need to get more attention in my humble opinion.

Slaine has released five albums throughout his career with the latest being back in 2021 with the Things We Can't Forgive. He has also released a few EPs and Mixtapes as well.

But Slaine isn't just a rapper either, he has done several movies including one called The Town which features actors like Ben Affleck. The movie has been out since 2010.

Most recently, Slaine has used his success to help others when he launched the Charles River Recovery where their mission is to help those who are battling addiction like he did. God Bless you for that bro and best of luck with the program.

Slaine has created a ton of songs that I never grow tired of listening to. Songs like 99 bottles, Still got my gun, Redemption, When the war ends, Everything once and so forth. 

But my personal favorite was the song I ain't done. Holy Crap! This song spoke to me right from the opening lyric and it never let up. I highly recommend you listen to it.

I really enjoy listening to Slaine and I pray nothing but success and happiness in his life. God Bless ya Slaine.

Hope everyone out there enjoyed this blog.

God Bless and Be Safe!

House of Pain

 One of my favorite musical acts of all time and I still listen to this very day is the Irish hip-hop trio known as the House of Pain.

House of Pain consists of lead rapper Everlast, emcee Danny Boy and the amazing DJ Lethal although Lethal was of Latvian descent.

They were one of the best things going in music throughout the 1990s and I enjoyed every single of them. Though I was young during their run, I was introduced to them thanks in large part to being around my big brother Cody and his friends and I have enjoyed House of Pain ever since.

One of best shots out there and it is still being played to this very day is the song Jump Around which was one their debut album House of Pain (Fine Malt Lyrics) back in 1992. I really love this song and it never gets old no matter how many times people play it.

However, what I will say gets old is how people call House of Pain a one hit wonder. In my humble opinion, they have had some many amazing songs that it is criminal that people don't know about them. Heck, their debut album only had some many incredible songs outside of Jump Around. Songs like Shamrocks and Shenanigans, Top of the Morning to Ya, Come and Get some of this, Life goes on, etc.

House of Pain had three albums during their run. And the songs are those albums are amazing too! 

My personal favorite song was On Point (Lethal Remix) although the original version was amazing as well. I also liked the Have Nots song and also the Who's The Man but then again, I enjoyed all of their songs really lol.

They did manage to come together in another awesome rap group called La Coka Nostra for a period and I really enjoyed that as well and introduced me to some awesome talents like Slaine and Ill Bill.

Also, if it wasn't for House of Pain, I wouldn't have found out about other groups like Cypress Hill and even not hip-hop groups like Helmet.

Today all three members are out there doing amazing things and works and I pray for all of them to find continued success.

I also want to thank House of Pain for helping me fall in love with music and writing and creating art and being able to express myself in artistic ways. And proud of my Irish heritage 😁! But more importantly, I would love to see one more House of Pain album drop! One can only hope 🙏🙏🙏

God Bless you House of Pain!