ACL Countdown: The Music

I've been really impressed so far with ACL's social media campaign on Facebook, etc, leading up to the event. They've been doing giveaways, posting maps, FAQs, and even a sampler of music you can download here.

I listened to the sampler and then wondered how many of the 130 bands I have on my own computer so I created my own ACL Playlist of acts from the lineup: 25 bands and 130 songs. Obviously the openers--Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs---were all already on my iPod, plus the groups that made me want to come in the first place--The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Dr. Dog.

The funny thing was the acts I had no idea i owned in the first place. These were songs I either grabbed from Paste or Amazon samplers, and listened to as a collection of indie rock without ever registering the artists. Bret Dennen's "There is So Much More" was grabbed after it appeared on Grey's Anatomy a million years ago; Blitzen Trapper's "Furr" is a Bob-Dylan-esque folk ballad; plus Michael Franti, Heartless Bastards, and a few others.

So my own Top 5 ACL songs based on play count:

1. Gold Lion, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2. Amen Omen, Ben Harper

3. There Is So Much More, Brett Dennen

4. The Rake Song, The Decemberists

5. Like This, Girl Talk

I love analyzing play counts. The rest of the Top 10 is all Decemberists and Girl Talk, because those two albums I play on repeat a ton. Who knew I loved Gold Lion so much--another Grey's Anatomy throwback--and of course Amen Omen will forever be one of my favorite Ballads, going back to college.