Countdown to M. Ward: 5 Days

I'm going to see M. Ward in Rockford, Illinois this Saturday. As he just so happens to be my favorite artist, and I've only seen him live once (plus one time with Monsters of Folk), I'm pretty excited. Therefore, I decided to do a countdown to the show, with a new song each day from each of his 6 full length albums. The posts will likely be short since I'm still pretty swamped with school right now, but hopefully they'll be a nice short diversion each day.

M. Ward's first full-length release was "Duet for Guitars #2" in 1999. The album is a pretty stripped down, lo-fi, folk sound of just Matt and his guitar. It wasn't until 2006's "Post War" that he really added much more instrumentation. Because of that I know some people find his early music too slow and boring. In terms of being introduced to his material, I wouldn't recommend starting with this album, but that voice and the sweet guitar playing should be enough to keep you hooked and coming back if you're already a fan.

It appears that one of my favorite songs on the album is actually a bonus track that may not have been on the original album, but oh well it's on there now, so it still counts. Below is "Were You There?" The song is a back and forth between the singer and an unknown person (or being) in which the singer asks if the person was around for various moments of the earth's creation. I'm not sure if there is a deeper meaning to it all, but either way I find it to be a catchy little ditty. Enjoy!