Made in Britain: Talented Musicians

You know how when you were in school and you had a substitute teacher, they would always play a film? That's pretty much what my blog will be today. The morning started with some pretty sad news regarding my Grandpa Lee. I got a phone call while out on my morning run that he was put in the ICU and was on life support. Which lead to me running home as quickly as I could while simultaneously sobbing. He has since been stabilized and we're hoping he'll be out of the ICU tomorrow. 

When I saw him in October, he was healthy as an ox, certain to outlive us all. About two months ago he started having malaria-like symptoms and his doctor's still haven't pinpointed the diagnosis. Please pray for his medical team to have wisdom in their diagnosis and treatment of my PawPaw. 

It's so hard to wrap my mind around since the last image I have of him was my usual strong and healthy Grandpa Lee. So basically, my mind is "out sick" so today you get a 'substitute teacher' who will share several YouTube videos with you... 

Jonathan and I were watching Top Gear last night when Jeremy Clarkson blessed us with this soundbyte: “Saying something is made in England is just another way of saying that the door will fall off.” We LOL’d at that for a good 5 minutes or so.  

It’s kind of a notorious fact that Britain doesn’t manufacture the highest quality products. There are quite a few exceptions to this of course. To name a few: Burberry, Barbour, Cheddar cheese, and X Factor finalists.

The US incarnation of X Factor hasn’t impressed me much, but I was blown away by this year’s UK winner James Arthur.

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So blown away that for the past few days, I’ve been replaying his performances on YouTube over and over again all day long. Unfortunately his songs aren’t available on US i-tunes for purchase, otherwise I’d be compulsively playing them out on my i-pod as well. Here are a few of my favorites from this season.

Isn’t he just simply marvelous? I can’t think of a single voice on earth that is more riveting. I could listen to him all day every day. And I do. Seriously, he is better than any American Idol, The Voice, or XFactor winner in recent US History.

And for me to say that anyone is better than my main man Phillip Phillips is a pretty big compliment. Because if I weren’t a married woman, Mr. Phillips would have one crazy stalker on his hands. Have you heard his new album? Amazing. Here’s a clip:

Can you tell that singer/songwriters are my favorite genre of music? Speaking of which, is Ed Sheeran big over there in America yet? If not, he will be soon, especially since he’s featured on Taylor Swift’s new album. He’s another 'Made in Britain' artist with mega talent. Check him out below:

What about Emeli Sande? Homegirl is from Aberdeenshire and I can’t get enough of her soulful sound. 

I’m always digging around for new music, so if you know of any undiscovered talents, comment it out. What are some of your favorite ‘local’ acts?