And all of the angels are cowboy singers

It's been two years today since gifted alt-folk musician Dave Carter passed away. With Tracy Grammer, he released three albums of songs that are joyful, mournful, bitter, ironic, and full of grace.

If you've never heard their music, you're missing something special. Any one of their three albums ("When I Go", "Tanglewood Tree", "Drum Hat Buddha") is a good place to start; "Drum Hat Buddha" is probably the best known. None of them is ever far from one of my CD players, and one of the main reasons I started learning guitar was so that I could play these songs. There's also an obscure pre-Tracy album named "Snake-Handlin' Man". I've been looking for it, unsuccessfully, for a couple of years, but Froogle certainly offers some interesting alternatives.

Tracy Grammer will be on the radio show World Cafe tomorrow, Tues. July 20. You can listen online at 2pm EST, or, if you're in Pittsburgh, catch it at 6pm on WYEP 91.3.

(Photo by Jason Reiser.)