2004 : 25 "Tear Stained Eye" by Sticky (covering Jay Farrar)

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I have been thinking about the things that make this decade special in terms of music. Every decade is special in musical history, but the 00s seem to be a decade where lots of technologies took root and flowered in terms of music. One of my examples of this is the Fan Tribute album. In 2004 I was a big Live Journal user. I was part of a lot of different music LJ groups. It had a great impact on the way I found music. Via one of the LJ groups I found out about Traced: A Fan Tribute to Jay Farrar. I will admit that not all the tracks are good; some of them are hard to listen to, but most of them are worth listening to. I would still rather to any of these songs than that Jon Bon Jovi cover of "Levon." In some way what it means to be a fan changed in this decade. Between blogs, social networking, better software, and broadband, the ways a fan can express themselves have been turned on their head. I think the communication between fans has changed the game forever. What I love about this tribute is the way that fans show all the ideas that can be taken from these songs. We are all listening to the same artist, but we are all leaving with something different. This project gives a way for people to show that. Jay Farrar was one of the fathers of the Alt-Country movement, so he was already bridging everything from Roy Acuff to The Ramones. I think it will only be a matter of time before this is a major part of the musical landscape. —Rich Thomas Listen: Sticky >> "Tear Stained Eye"