urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:seanan_mcguire The Journal of Seanan McGuire Seanan McGuire 2017-01-26T00:19:15Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:seanan_mcguire:687390 2017-01-26T00:19:15Z 2017-01-26T00:19:15Z Kansas, "Closet Chronicles." Sometimes I look back at my own teenage years, tangled and tempestuous as they were, and wonder if I knew how lucky I was, musically speaking. The Counting Crows still played at the U.C. Berkeley on-campus club; Heather Alexander was both local and frequently touring; Celtic rock was having a resurgence, with Avalon Rising and Four Shillings Short playing somewhere almost every weekend.<br /><br />And there was Annwn.<br /><br />They were weirdos. They were wonderful. They were everything I wanted to be when I grew up. The idea of making Elton or Leigh Anne proud of me was enough to motivate me to do almost anything. I got to have a relationship with them, to know them as humans and artists and creators and people who let their freak flags fly proudly and without fear. I am the adult I am because they were there to be an example for the confused child I was.<br /><br />Leigh Anne died in 2006. I still miss her. I will always miss her. Annwn died with her. Even if the band had wanted to continue, there was no replacing Leigh Anne. She was absolutely one of a kind.<br /><br />For a long time, their music has been unavailable. Now, that's changing, and one of their best albums, <i>Come Away to the Hills</i> <a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/annwn">has been made available for purchase</a>, as has the one album she recorded with Daoine Sidhe, <i>Now and Then</i>, <a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/daoinesidhe1">which you can access here</a>.<br /><br />If you love Celtic rock and folk music, please give a listen.<br /><br />This is one of the voices that made me.