All Over Albany

My Exit: Mike Grutka

Every Monday night our friends at WEXT do this thing called My Exit -- local listeners get to come into the station and program an hour of music. So we thought it'd be fun to find out a little bit about these people and why they picked the songs on their play list.

Here's tonight's person:

Who?
I'm Mike Grutka and I'm a musician.

I listen to pretty much everything good. I chose songs for My Exit that influenced me as a musician, with a focus on the songs I listened to the most during the recording of "Ria" my new CD which comes out September 14th.

How would you describe your musical taste?

Four Strong Winds---Neil Young --I think this is a very pretty song. I heard this one a lot growing up. There is something timeless about it and It still sounds fresh to me after all these years.

Five songs from Mike's show:

Waiting for a Superman--The Flaming Lips--Go buy "The Soft Bulletin" I could have also chosen 'Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" and been just as happy. I love the overall sound and how they build the arrangement.

Unhome--Miriam Makeba--This is a great example to me of the universal appeal of music. I do not know the language it's in, or what the lyrics mean, but this song just moves me. The way she sings, the sound of the piano and bass...gorgeous.

American Dreaming--Dead Can Dance -- A great live recording. I've read this is the only version of this song by them. I think it was new the night they recorded it.

Waterfall--The Stone Roses--A late 80's British band that started the whole 'Madchester' movement. Great pop.

You can hear Mike's My Exit show tonight at 8 at 97.7 or at exit977.org. Here's how to schedule your own My Exit show on WEXT.