Well, hi.  It’s me, the new voice.

If I may, I’d like to start off by saying that it took me 5+ years to jump on the Facebook wagon, and I’m still really lame at it.  I rarely post updates and I’m pretty sure my friends have all stopped checking.  I guess the Newsfeed cruising just never caught on for me.  Fortunately, my sister has more social skills than I do and managed to reconnect with an old high school friend by the name of Patrick.  Now Patrick and Fred are allowing me to support a habit I’ve developed over the years… a habit I happen to like quite a bit.  To quote Chris McCandless, “Happiness is not real unless shared.”  That’s it, that’s the mission here.  I’m going to share what makes me happy and you’re gonna like it.  At least I hope you will on some days of the week.

So let’s get on with it, then!  What makes Desiree happy?  Food.  Dance Reality TV (Right, so now everyone knows).  Escaping the daily tedium of working in an office.  Of course, a literal escape isn’t really an option since I have bills to pay, a dog to feed, blah blah blah.  But I can get the fix by streaming music all day long, and few artists evoke daydreams more effectively than Ferraby Lionheart.

I’ve seen it written that Ferraby was born in Nashville, but let’s assume his label, Nettwerk Records, got it right:  He was born in Los Angeles, reared in Nashville, schooled in Chicago and now dwells, once again, in L.A.  He used to play in a rock band, but I sure am happy he got sick of it.  As a solo artist, you can really tell that Ferraby started out with early influences of Gershwin and Cole Porter and then later found inspiration in the likes of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits.  The end result is a special style he coins as the “Peter Pan” genre.  If that doesn’t spell escape, then I don’t know what does.  I was pleased to read this about Ferraby, because I’ve always wondered if the song “Small Planet” was inspired by the famous children’s story, “The Little Prince.”  All that talk about taming foxes can’t be THAT much of a coincidence!

To date, Ferraby has put out three lovely recordings and each one invites the listener to while their time away on a train or porch somewhere.  They’re relaxing, intriguing and exciting all at the same time and I’m not the only one who thinks so.  The good folks at Threadless felt that “Small Planet” was cool enough to warrant a contest. 

And yes, of course I own and wear the shirt.

You can stream songs from Ferraby’s self-released EP Ferraby Lionheart – EP as well as his first major release Catch the Brass Ring.  If you like what you hear, there is still time to purchase a signed copy of his new album The Jack of Hearts.

At the very least, it’ll be something different – stories about Houdini, Little Princes, Frankenstein and Texas.  Neat.