Saturday's Songs for the Soul: Top 10 Songs 4 the Soul of 2013

Thought for the Day: Last year I started posting Saturday's Songs for the Soul in honor of my brother, Larry Bogdanow, who passed away from brain cancer. Larry was a true Renaissance man who loved the all forms of art. He was also amazing at finding new music and renditions of the classics by varied artists. As gifts he would put together cd mixes which all who received them cherish to this day. Since I am celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the start of this blog all month and 79,400 page views since it's inception, I will be sharing the top 10 Songs for the Soul posts from 2013. Today I will share the 1st 5 (from #10 to #5 in popularity by # of page views which may not be fair since as people began to view the blog more often posts got more exposure!). In 2 weeks, I will post the top 5 posts from this series.

# 10 One of my favorite Songs for the Soul posts was the 1st post in the series on February 23rd, 2013, I posted Halleluyah played by a street musician on wine glasses.

#9 We were all devastated by the news of the Boston Marathon bombing last year. On April 20th, 2013, I posted 3 songs that were my picks to support Boston where I lived for many years. Here's Wishing for Boston's Strong Recovery

#8 On March 9th, 2013, I introduced you to the music of Beth Nielsen Chapman, Songs, Creativity & Therapy. The 3 songs I chose by Beth, whom I have had the honor to meet & work with when I organized songwriting retreats, give a feel for the power of her writing. Her inspirational music has touched millions in songs covered by Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, Willie Nelson & Faith Hill to name a few!





#7 The post Love, Joy, Change & Hope, on 3/23/2013 in honor of spring and in memory of my brother, Bill, who's birthday was 3/25, I chose 4 songs by several artists that I love. Keath Whitley's "Nothing At All" performed by Keith solo and then in a hauntingly beautiful duet with Alison Krauss dubbed with Keith's recording is well worth hearing again & again. It also brings a "I Hope You Dance" performed by Lee Ann Womack with a video about how the song came to be with Tia Sillers (who co-wrote the song with Mark D. Sanders). Then, I shared "Turn, Turn Turn," with Pete Seeger. Finally. I shared a powerful rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone," that was aired on American Idol.




#6 on the best of Saturday's Songs for the Soul is Rise Up Singing & Building Self Confidence, features the great country artist, Kenny Rogers singing "I Am the Greatest,""You Can Let Go Now Daddy," by Canadian singer songwriter, Crystal Shawanda, and the amazing story and performance of "Here Come the Memories" by Sally Spring, a singer songwriter whose love of music and perseverance helped conquer a physical disability. It was posted on 4/6/2013.

#5 Bad Moon Rising & a Belated Thank You to a Veteran was posted on November 16, 2013 paid tribute to our veterans.