Z's Music Corner

[Bamagan]

In the spirit of comedic music, here's a song composed entirely of puns.

 

[HotCosmo]

Introducing a new version of a Spanish classic:

 

[THBGato]

My recommendation for the day. Combines wacky lyrics with an infectious groove:

Try to say this line quickly: Ken Dodd's dad's dog's dead on the tele

 

[iwatchus]

For quirky I'll go with David Bromberg (I wanted The Holdup from the same album, which is shorter and has a catchier tune, but I couldn't find it on YT)

 

[Rob_Royale]

Two amazing musicians here. Lindsey Stirling and Lzzy Hale. This song is on heavy rotation on my favorites feed.

 

[YmaOHyd]

There aren't many people who can be called prodigies, but Shawn Lane was one of them. He started playing guitar at 10 and took it seriously at 13. By 14, he was touring nationally with Black Oak Arkansas, opening for REO Speedwagon, the Outlaws and Blue Oyster Cult. At 20, he released his first album Powers of Ten, featuring "Get You Back," the song in the video up there. The album was written on piano, which was Lane's primary instrument for practice and songwriting. At a guitar clinic in the early 1990s he was asked how he'd learned to play so fast; he shrugged and said "I don't know, I've always been able to do this."

From the mid-90s to the early 2000s, Lane played with Jonas Hellborg of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and a series of talented drummers. They'd play long, almost entirely improv shows in a fusion of styles; his later work includes lots of influences from Indian and Pakistani traditional musicians. Unfortunately, Lane had serious health problems stemming from psoriatic arthritis, Cushing's syndrome and heavy smoking, and he passed away in 2003.

He's not as widely known as he should be or as many of his contemporaries are. Guthrie Govan, the British guitar virtuoso, started as a columnist for Guitar Techniques magazine by transcribing the most technically-difficult piece he could find: one by Lane. Paul Gilbert called him "the most terrifying guy of all time," and talked in 2025 about sharing a stage with him at NAMM 1993. Brilliant player, great guy, more people should know his music.