I just recently "discovered" Mack Starks -- I'd heard of him because he's a friend of a friend, but for some reason I'd never sought out his music until this weekend. Whatever the reason, I'm really glad I did. I bought his first solo album, Elsewhere, on iTunes, and I've been listening to it for the past few days, and loving it.

This quote is about his new album, which hasn't been released yet:

When you hear it, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I just don't typically trust or like music that isn't, in it's heart, the blues. Yeah, there's happy stuff happening all the time. I recently got engaged, for example. But why sing about that. Or...how do you do it without sounding self congratulatory and smug. I find doubts, fears, heartaches to be interesting. For me, music is the place to express these things so I don't have to do it the rest of the time.

Beautiful stuff.