I’ve rebuilt my CD collection fairly well since the Great Purge of 2006 (you can read about that in my book). I don’t have an exact number, but I’m thinking my collection numbers in the area of 1,100 CDs. This picture represents the A-O portion of that collection.

The casual music fan looks at my collection and says, “Man, you’ve got more music there than you’ll ever need! There’s no way you can listen to all that!” And they’re half right. I can’t listen to everything I have. But that is not the point. My CD collection isn’t about the acquisition of discs. It’s about the never-ending exploration of music.

The casual music fan looks at my collection, and sees what’s there. When I look at my collection, I see what’s missing. There are holes everywhere. Some of the CDs are out of print, and I can’t re-acquire them. Some of the music can only be obtained digitally. There are other CDs I just haven’t gotten around to locating yet.

And then there’s the music I don’t know about.

Yes, I have a decent-sized music collection. But I’ve heard everything here. Almost immediately, I find myself asking the same question: What’s next?

There are literally hundreds of thousands of CD releases (if not more) every year. No, I don’t need to hear every one of them. But I would like to hear as much of the good stuff as possible.

And so I find myself pouring through magazines like Mojo, Uncut, Guitar Player, Jazz Times, Modern Drummer, Bass Player, and Prog month after month. I read about the artists they profile and review, and I seek them out. Often, I can find them on Bandcamp, the most wonderful music app in the world (more on that in a future post). I add the albums to my wishlist, and always have somewhere interesting to explore. It’s a great time to be a music fan.

It would be nice to find myself in a position like one of my favorite music journalists, Sid Smith. Each wall in his music room is quite literally covered with CDs and LPs. He doesn’t have a collection. Sid has a library! That’s what I’m aiming for. I’m reasonably sure labels are sending him promotional CDs for his review, but that’s beside the point. I’m not in that position yet, but it would be nice to think I could get there some day. I can think of worse fates in life than being paid to write about music.

One of my goals for this page is to pull some music from my shelves and tell you about it. Some of it will be new, and some will be older. And while I’m happy to tell what I already have, I will forever be seeking out what’s next. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make some exciting discoveries together.