The 10,000 Maniacs CD, “In My Tribe”, is a beloved part of my musical collection.  I’ve probably listened to it over 100 times by now — wild guess, it’s probably more — and I never get tired of it.  Natalie Merchant has a unique and compelling voice.  Aside from Natalie’s voice, the music is mellow and melodic, even when singing about troubling societal issues.

per wikipedia: In My Tribe is an album by the American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. Released on July 27, 1987, it was their second major-label album and their first to achieve large-scale success. John Lombardo, Natalie Merchant’s songwriting partner on previous albums, left the band in 1986. Merchant began collaborating with the other members of the band, most notably with Rob Buck. In 1989, the recording of Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train” was removed from the U.S. CD version after comments made by Stevens (by then a Muslim convert and known as Yusuf Islam) that were perceived to be supportive of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie. The song remains on LP record copies and CDs released outside the United States. [Mine must have come from outside of the US as it has Peace Train on it.] Rolling Stone… ranked the album number sixty-five on their list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s, summing it up as “a poetic, heartfelt message about social concerns such as alcoholism, child abuse and illiteracy.”

My selection from the album is, “My Sister Rose”, written by Merchant and Jerome Augustyniak.  It is a happy song about a sister describing her sister’s wedding day.  I love everything about this song, especially its heart.