Welcome back to our regularly scheduled programming: This is your Music Director Jen Kehl coming to you from WMSK Skewed View Radio!

This week finds us back to creating mixtapes based on a theme. The decades were great, and we all had a lot of fun. Now it’s time to exercise our creative juices and start having some REAL fun people! Get your ears on and make yourself a mix, this weeks theme, to ease your brain back into thinking is

Duets or Duos 

(Two people who don’t normally sing together singing a song or a musical group that is 2 people, Simon and Garfunkel, Hall and Oates, etc.)

Next week I’m gonna make you work for it people. The theme will be No Strings Attached, so put on your little thinking caps and create that mix you always wanted to make for John Cusack. Or, you know, whomever.

This week was harder than I thought. I had it all worked out, but as I began looking for my songs on YouTube I happened upon the time tunnel that is searching for songs like this: James Taylor and …. Well man, did I open up a can of worms! I was originally looking for this song:

James Taylor and The Dixie Chicks – Shower the People

You may or may not know this but I am a HUGE James Taylor fan. So back in 2002, when I saw that Country Music Television was going to do this Crossroads series with James Taylor and Dixie Chicks, I was all over it. Now that was The Old Days; I needed that music so badly I recorded the show by holding my video camera really close to the TV speaker, and then transferring that to a CDR. Man…. the quality sucked, but it was so worth it!

James Taylor was definitely part of the soundtrack of the end of high school and the beginning of college for me. However, he also became the soundtrack of my life with my boy. The very first lullaby I ever sang Isaiah was Sweet Baby James. Carolina on My Mind has special meaning for us now as we spend all of our summers in South Carolina. Close Your Eyes became another favorite lullaby.

This, however. This was the dance around the house, have an awesome time song, not unlike what Carly and James are doing here:

James Taylor and Carly Simon – Mockingbird

There was actually one more James Taylor duet I was looking for. But I became so intrigued I kept looking around and found this:

James Taylor and Taylor Swift

I know she’s all teeny bopperish but I am sorry, she is enormously talented. Gifted, really. But wait, I’m not done… then there was this:

James Taylor and Carole King – You’ve Got a Friend

James Taylor is definitely a genius, and Taylor Swift might be, but nobody…nobody compares to Carole King. Maybe you don’t love her voice, that’s certainly why she didn’t become the star she should have been. But I will bet you half of your favorite songs in the 70’s were written by her. (If you’re old enough to have favorite songs from the 70’s)

This is the song I was looking for, I was so sure I must have used it already on a mix. I searched my past posts and didn’t find it (but my brain resembles a sieve these days, and I might be wrong so if it’s out there enjoy it again!). I just love this song, and love to sing it. I don’t love this video, there is a version of them singing in the studio. I love that video. However, this is the version of the song I love. This is the version I sing, so this is what you get:

James Taylor and Alison Krauss – How’s the World Treating You

By the way, that’s off of an album called Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’ – Songs of the Louvin Brothers – Various Artists I highly recommend buying it if you like this song, because every song on that album is gold. Just amazing duets between some surprising people. (BTW I am having serious deja vu now, and I know I included this song before, I really try not to duplicate but I might have, so sue me.)

I did not go into this week’s mixtape planning to create the James Taylor Duets album we’ve all been longing for, but it happened, and I just couldn’t help it. However, my whole reason for even wanting to do a duets category was this song, so I’m gonna play it anyway:

Tony Bennett and K.D. Lang – Moonglow

I just love the way she’s looking at him in this video. She so clearly admires and loves him. And I do too.

I’d like to list all of the songs I planned to put on this mix, but I’ll save them for another day.

So here comes the fun part! The rules of Twisted MixTape are as such: Try and create a 5 song mix based on this week’s theme. This week our theme is Duets or Duos. Create your own post and link it up, or put your mix in the comments. If you are going to link-up there must be a song – relating to the theme – in your post. And really, if you’re not ready to link up with us, no worries! We love songs in the comments! So bring it!
Please visit your fellow mix-makers, and if you can, comeback every so often to see if anyone new has arrived. Share this all over the place, the more the merrier! And go visit my lovely cohort, without whom I would have never had the guts to make this happen – Kristi at Finding Ninee. She’s always got a song, a funny story and some silly Drawrings. Mostly, just have fun, there’ s no pressure here.

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=199006

Here is The List of all Lists:

Aug 20 – No Strings Attached (I know none of us feel this way – wink wink.  But there are a lot of great songs about having a relationship/one night stand with no strings attached)
August 27 – You know what? I suck/ You suck. Get your venom out here, or maybe that ballad that basically says ‘you suck’”, or play it this way: you’re the one who did wrong and you know it. This is your apology/acknowledgement for being an ass. Or a mix of the two. You decide.
September 3 – “BEST OF” pick a band, any band, and put together a “Best of” playlist. Easy peasy for the holiday weekend.
September 10 – Make a mix for a friend of songs you think are beautiful. Either because they make you happy, they are musically composed in some way because they are pleasing to you  or they just plain make you think…this is beautiful. (that doesn’t always mean happy)

And if you got this far…. I’m taking suggestions for mixtapes, so give me a hollar, best place to do that is twitter @jenkehl cause that’s where I live. But a comment will do just fine too!