Not Too Late

I'll never forget where I was the first time I heard Norah Jones. I was driving down Decker Drive in Baytown early in 2002 when "Don't Know Why" came on the radio. The song was only into a few bars when I thought, "I don't know who this is, but I love her. I will buy every CD she puts out."

And so far, I have. Yesterday I scored her new CD, "Not Too Late." I've only been able to listen to it driving back and forth to Jenna's school this morning (one thing I get back when we move into our new house is my greatly-missed under-the-cabinet kitchen stereo), but I'm loving it so far. Norah, a fellow Texas girl, even got interestingly political with "My Dear Country." (Not to be confused with the old Barney song of the same name.)

I'll try to describe what Norah's music is like to me. You know how you go to Starbucks on a cold day and get your hot drink of choice and as the perfect blend of sweetness and warmth glides across your tongue and hits the back of your throat, you think -- no matter what's going on in your life at that time -- that just for that moment, all is right with the world? That's how my ears feel when I listen to Norah's voice. Stevie Ray Vaughan's music has a similar effect.

At the Grammys the year after Norah's debut album (Come Away with Me) came out, she won 8 Grammy awards -- so many that she started getting embarrassed when they kept calling her name. "It was like going to a birthday party and eating all the cake before anyone else got a chance to have any," she said. Well, Norah, that's what you get for being so dang talented.