Over the last few weeks I have spoken to several groups and the same question keeps coming up. Do you just listen to country music or what else are you listening to? I have decided to share a little of what you will find in my iPod.

I was speaking to a group of 6th graders a couple weeks back and they asked the normal questions about the job - what's your favorite part, how many hours a day do you work, what is a typical day like for you? But they also asked me about my music preferences. I explained to them that I like a little of everything.

A week later I was speaking to a group of accountants that were taking a tour of our building and one of them asked me, "so is country music all you listen to"? Monday evening I hosted the Communications class from St. Cloud State here at the studios and one of those students asked me about what I listen to. Yesterday a listener emailed me and asked me what other music do I listen to.

Here's the truth. I love country music. I really do. I enjoy listening to it, I have 98 Country on all day at my desk, I'm constantly listening to the new country music and deciding if we are going to start playing it this week or next and I listen to the new albums every week for my reviews. But I don't just love country music. My tastes in music are wide and varied.

There is nothing more than to discover a new group and listen to what their translation of next is going to be. I enjoy sharing music that I'm digging with my friends or anyone that wants to hear it.

So here's the deal. I'm going to share some of the "other music" that I listen to with you. If you want to expand your brain outside of country music, take a listen. If you can only handle country, I thank you for listening to 98.1 FM and will let you know when I find a great track from an album that you can't miss.

The latest group that I stumbled upon about 2 months ago is a group called fun. I remember hearing the debut single from their new album and thinking, that thing is a hit. I came into work and told the brand manager down the hall that he really needed to consider adding that song to their playlist because it was going to be a hit. Sure enough, it is now the number one song on iTunes, the number one album and these guys are blowing up all over the world.

To be able to hear something and say, wow, that's going to be big makes me smile.

This is the song that led me to fun.

 

One thing that attracts me to artists is their ability to sing songs acoustically. If they are able to perform live and sound near to what was recorded on the album, that's a huge plus from me. Here's the same song done acoustically.

 

I heard this song and immediately had to order their album because I knew I would enjoy it. Sure enough, Some Nights is one of the albums that get played at least once a day right now - I enjoy it that much.

Carry On is another song from the album that I really enjoy. Here's that song acoustically.

 

Now you may say, Dave, that's great and all, but what can they do with music that isn't theirs? Well, I'm glad you asked. Recently they did an acoustic cover of Lady Antebellum's We Owned The Night and nailed it.

 

Once I had devoured their latest album, I went back to iTunes to see if there was more music from them. Sure enough they had an album in 2009 called Aim and Ignite. I have listened to it many times, but I still find myself going back to Some Nights over and over again.

The best part about fun. is the fact that I can't really categorize them. They tend to fall under Alternative Rock, but I wouldn't slate them into that category. Others categorize them as indie pop, but again, I wouldn't label them that either. I know, I will label them as "fun".

I would love to see these guys perform in concert, unfortunately their show is sold out. Maybe the next time they come this way, I'll get lucky enough to see them and hopefully chat with them for a few minutes about their music.

I will stay on the lookout for new and interesting music to share with you straight from my iPod.

More From 98.1 Minnesota's New Country