Direct link here. Only 13 songs so some major culling but it'll do.

And who'd have thought, after all
Something so simple as rock'n'roll would save us all?

And some of the rest that made life worth ploughing on.

Hayes Carll -- KMAG YOYO

Charles Bradley -- No Time for Dreaming Seeing him next March.

Tom Russell - Mesabi

Eddie Roberts & The Fire Eaters - Burn

The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow Current Americana It duo.

Lindi Ortega - Little Red Boots

The Sheepdogs -- Learn and Burn ROCK

Robert Ellis - Photographs This is a curious album in that a couple of songs are tears in my beer country and others are more low fi-y straight ahead folky. All good.

Cash Box Kings -- Holler & Stomp Not to be confused with Hayes Carll's "Stomp & Holler."

Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Wronglers - Heirloom Songs The Wronglers include Warren Hellman bazillionaire investment banker dude who bankrolled Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Fran, and who died recently. I hope he provided for it 'cos I've always dreamed of going one day.

Following a link on Twiiter from @crikey_earworm, Crikey's music blog, I came across Australian-only streaming service Songl. Lis the new r in the hipster net app naming stakes apparently. Not sure about the name, several times when I've plugged it into Google I've automatically typed "Songr." I must grow accustomed to our new L overlords.

Songl used to be called Anubis.fm which used to be bandit.fm, got that? I used bandit.fm a few times, and I would've continued using it except they dumped their subscription plan which is the only thing that made it useful for me compared to iTunes. It's probably wise to shelve trying to compete against Cupertino there and move to the currently unoccupied space of music streaming in Australia.

Earworm also mentioned JB Hi Fi has a streaming service now too but I haven't checked that one out yet (the colour scheme of the website is not the same as the shops thankfully.) Both have free trials on right now.

As the Spotify, Pandora etc rage has swept the world (where "world" means Europe and the USA), we have mostly been left out by geographical restrictions, although there undoubtably ways around those. Always eager to feed my music consumption compulsions, I checked out Songlr. Here are the answers I found to my most burning questions about the service.

Is it a hot mess to use?

Songlr is in some kind of pre-launch beta phase so to get a code to join you like their Facebook page, it was a painless process and only took a minute or so til I was in. The interface moves around smoothly and is basically easy to navigate right off the bat. I know some folks hate the white onblack style, but I didn't find it hard to read (red on black, now that's a killer. Yes, eMusic, I refer to you.)

The layout seems oriented more to individual tracks than albums. Adding stuff to my queue was simple, playback was flawless (I'm on ADSL2 in a metro area) and wasn't interrupted when I continued to surf around different pages.

There is also an iPhone (and Android) app, which I've downloaded but haven't used yet.

Is there anything you actually want to listen to?

I signed up for a 30 day free trial but from then, you pay. Which I would consider doing as long as it has enough that I want, which is not so obvious since Top 40 is not what I want. And yes the Top 40 type stuff is right up front (geez those Glee kiddies have certainly pumped out some product, eh?) which is fine, I can click past that as long as there's something for me to click to. I see 3 basic uses for a streaming service for me. To try before you buy, to investigate artists and genres I'm curious about or are gaps in my music mind map but I don't want to buy (and sampling on YouTube doesn't suffice) and because I want to hear something but it's easier to stream than actually go get the damn CD out of the rack in the other room. Less damning of my laziness, this last one also applies to streaming on a portable device. Have anything you want just there is appealing.

SO ANYWAY. It's owned by Sony and has the other majors and, it says, a "strong representation of independent labels." Still very little of what I normally buy - no Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers for Songl! I plugged in the last dozen or so things I've bought and it had none, except for The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. Based on some quick searches they have Lost Highway (which is a subsidiary of one of the majors anyway) but no Bloodshot, Yep Roc, Rounder, New West or Signature Sounds - which cuts down on the new country/roots releases I seek out.

They did however have the first Frank Fairfield album, who coincidentally I'm seeing tonight at the Basement. That's pretty subterranean stuff.

But it may be unfair to judge it by niche tastes, the catalogue of mainstream acts both classic and contemporary is undoubtably impressive. They have Columbia so a search for "Johnny Cash" brings up 80 separate albums (even if I did count four different repackaging of San Quentin ...) They have everything Dylan has released officially. Ditto Leonard Cohen and Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and Marvin Gaye. I queued up The Essential Jefferson Airplane as I explored, then the last album by recently deceased soul singer Howard Tate. They have Blue Note and Prestige so the jazz is outstanding (136 albums for Miles Davis!)

I found I couldn't get much of what I wanted from the "Genre Playlists" but search turned up the massive catalogue below the surface. The cost will be $9 and $12, both offering unlimited streaming but you pay for 320kpb over 128, to be able to stream on your phone and to cache songs.

It doesn't look like there's a way to buy a track you like, which is quite odd.

So if you want to stream Top 40 releases or have a healthy taste for the major labels' back catalogue (and don't already have it all), that could be OK. Overall it was an easy and useful experience and will probably stump up for it, at least intermittently when the need strikes.

Tickets for Byron players' side shows have started going on sale, and so the Easter bottleneck shuffle has begun.

I haven't experienced any great angst with my schedule the last couple of years but in 2012 Lucinda Williams and John Hiatt are playing Sydney the same night, Tuesday 3rd April. What to Do!!!???

Actually the dilemma was not a big one in the end. My devotion to both is equal, really I can't split them. I've seen both live in the last couple of years and neither seem likely to give up touring or recording in the foreseeable future. So it comes then down to the venue, and that is, as the young folk say, "a no brainer." John is playing the Metro and Lucinda the State. The Metro: smallish, general admission where you can get up the front with a bit of rock and roll in the air versus the State where your only option is to sit and clap politely. Lucinda's ads say "One Show Only" so that is sad but man I am looking forward to "Walk On", "Slow Turning", "Tennessee Plates" etc etc in that venue.

Speaking of no-brainers Justin Townes Earle is at the Factory the night after. Never miss him live.

Steve Earle is going solo at the Factory the following week, through an early offer I got some front row seats and Steve solo is still a worthwhile proposition despite my mostly indifference to his last decade of output.

Also at the Factory in March is Charles Bradley, the latest retro soul revelation from Daptone.

I gather Trombone Shorty is also playing at the Metro but tickets aren't on sale yet. I'll also check out Bettye Lavette and Nick Lowe sideshows to see if I can fit them in.

Before all that in January I'll be seeing the Cambodian Space Project at the Vanguard and Hanggai at the Basement. Cambodian Space Project traverse the same general territory combining Khmer pop and western rock as the better known Dengue Fever. although CSP are actually based in Phnom Penh.

Hanggai play Mongolian folk music with electric guitars and a punk attitude. I find them quite enthralling.

Phew.