Music that gets you psyched!

[dfspau2]

Hanson brothers... Fo sho...

[tbwilsonky]

https://soundcloud.com/milyoo/try-2-make-it-ess

[whatahutch]

Selected songs by Pearl Jam, Drive-By Truckers, and a myriad of indie rock bands usually gets me psyched. It needs to be as loud as possible too, and that usually does the trick for me. I start with something like this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdMsjjUmCYY, this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlcOs3fCN3M, or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyAJ4V06 ... 6ADfIwJrsK .

[whatahutch]

And something like this gets me pumped: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCrUcnF ... 6ADfIwJrsK

Cam, give "white" bluegrass a try. (You may have and you didn't like it, I don't know). I do think that music is a lot like food. Some people like tomatoes and some don't, your ears just approve of some stuff and another's ears approve of other stuff. When it comes to music, like race and people in general, it is better to check your pre-concieved notions and be an equal-opportunity listener. Don't judge a whole genre based on who you see standing in front of you playing a banjo, holding a mic, or even blowing on a didjerdoo.

Sam Bush is a good start (he is from the Louisville area). J.D. Crowe and New South, Del McCoury, and the grandfather of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, are all good introductions to bluegrass also. If you don't think you will like traditional bluegrass though, start with the contemporary beauty of the banjo, Abigail Washburn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5avMOaEUxRQ (Her version of the song gives me chills, as does Led Zeppelin's. The song was originally recorded in the 1920s, though).

The banjo did came from the heart of Africa. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185405/
In a historical way it is as non-white as this guy was when he brought rap music to every white teenager's TV and cd player in the early '90s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Sp500ZVI0
Or as non-white as this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWUs0KtB-I&feature=kp
Or this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAwjZLztd28
Or this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFo8-JqzSCM
Or even him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsuFlxxrX8k
And as white as this guy is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmXumtgwtak
And this guy was: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PotB76gi2_4
And as mixed as a band as these guys are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxawVMQ02dc
And this guy is like James Brown, just white and taller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcLN1ugXGCg

How can a song be white? How can a genre be black, brown, or any other color? How can any form of music possess a physical aspect that we humans use to divide?

Like people, give music-including bluegrass-a try. Music is one of the most beautiful things that we humans can create (no matter where we come from or look like).