Sound off

On our minds and on out playlists

Like any music fan, I constantly click around the websites of musicians I dig. Lately I've noticed that the number of regularly updated journals and blogs seems to have exploded. And there's some good reading to be done; gifted songwriters are often good plain old writers too.

One I've been reading for several years is that of Tufts-spawned pop-rock trio Guster, whose drummer Brian Rosenworcel intermittently maintains one of the funniest, most candid looks at the inner workings of a band on the road and in the studio at www.guster.com. (The group has a new album out this spring.)

Fans of Juliana Hatfield might find a perusal of www.julianahatfield.com/blog almost painfully revelatory. It details, in a sometimes poetically abstract manner, everything from her romantic travails to her health issues.

Amanda Palmer, late of the Dresden Dolls, is equally thoughtful at www.blog.amanda palmer.net, often adding photos to accompany her musings. A recent entry on people yakking on cellphones during holiday travel: "we're all in our own little reality shows nowadays. you can watch, or you can turn back to your new york times and muffin and read about people killing each other from a distance instead."

For musical as well as literary pleasures, one of the best blogs comes from Bill Janovitz (above) at www.billjanovitz.blogspot .com. The Buffalo Tom lead singer-songwriter has also been offering a free weekly download of favorite covers, including a great version of Bruce Springsteen's "One Step Up."

And unlike some of the more famous musician/celebrity bloggers out there, these folks all know to keep the CAPS LOCK off.

SARAH RODMAN