In an unprecedented spurt of organization, I already have a christmas present for my parents - the anthology of american folk music. It seems a much safer bet than any noveau-country stuff - Dad wasn't too impressed by the Wagons CD I lent him, for instance, though they did quite enjoy that Beyond Nashville compilation (perhaps not as much of the newer stuff, though...).

Oh, and I picked up an album by the Rectifiers for a mere $7, so I could find out what they were really like (I didn't get a good enough idea of them the other week). Nice pedal steel plus organ and stuff. I never know whether to call this stuff country or "rootsy", now. All this terminology's too much for me, which might explain why I felt I had to buy Bill Bryson's revised Troublesome Words (he's not just a travel writer - see Mother Tongue for another instance of his...otherness). Since I'm fairly well resigned to being monolingual, I may as well try and be good at the one language I know...

Right now I'm listening to The Monkey Puzzle for perhaps the first time since I started this blog. It's been (just over) a year.

*gargle*