I like to think of myself as a diverse listener, but when I look at my CD collection I sometimes wonder how true that is. Nearly all my CDs are some flavor of rock and roll and/or blues. My country music collection consists entirely of Johnny Cash, and most of that is pre- and post-Nashville. My jazz section is a couple Miles Davis CDs, a Dave Brubeck, Dave Carter, and Barrett Martin. Rap? Bluegrass? Zero. R&B? I guess Etta James, if you don't lump her in with blues. What makes this all the more amazing is that it used to be worse. These timid forays into different musical types have only happened in the past few years.

I have two albums featuring Alison Krauss.  I have Raising Sand, her collaboration with Robert Plant and T-Bone Burnett. I also have a song she did for the Twister soundtrack. I bought that because I liked Van Halen's "Humans Being." I'm probably the only one who liked it then and I still like it, so deal with it.

I still can't believe I didn't immediately skip over Krauss' "Moments Like This" on general principle. She was "country" and I don't like country, therefore I wouldn't like that song. Fortunately, I ignored my own prejudices and listened anyway.

I didn't know why I liked that song then, but I think I understand now. There's a quiet intensity and the undercurrent of a slow, burning groove. I heard those things then, but didn't know they were why I liked the song because I didn't care about things like that at the time. I do now. I liked Krauss' voice because she didn't sound like a country singer to me then, at least not on "Moments Like This." There was a yearning in her voice that I found captivating, even though I didn't know something like that would work on me. 15 years after first hearing this song, I can still get lost in it.

I still have to remind myself that I've rarely been disappointed when I've branched out, but I'm getting better.

Article Author: Josh Hathaway

Josh Hathaway is a Sr. Music Editor for Blogcritics.

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