Music Stuff and My Dog's a Sock Monkey with a Mohawk

I've been true to expanding my new-music game, and I realize I always get drawn to old music done new. So, I'm now in love with the Carolina Chocolate Dropswho I heard on my alternative radio station a few days ago. Their new CD is in the mail to me as I type. I couldn't decide which video to post. This one doesn't show off their fiddle skills, which melts me, but the singing is just gorgeous.

Here's the other band I just learned about, Slavic Soul Party! They're a Brooklyn-based "gypsy brass" band with a lil funky back beat. Man, I love me some gypsy music. I am easily slain by an accordion, it seems.

Diggin around the internet after Slavic Soul Party! I then stumbled across the What Cheer? Brigade which is a 19 piece brass band, also with Balkan roots but with a punk, New Orleans undertow. They're out of Rhode Island. So, so good.
I don't think anything lays me out like cultural folk with a modern twist.

Hey, here's my new, little, bitty pastel piece. I'm practicing on farmers market flowers. It didn't photograph too well, but you get the idea.
Oh, and our dogs either love their lives or hate it.