I should clarify. I find that at or above a certain level of commerciality, CDs tend to be so packaged and overproduced that they can actually make me react negatively to performers I like. To me, the ideal is one or two musicians with instruments and maybe one or both singing. Once it gets up to about 5 or 6 things going on at once, my unconscious mind gets so confused trying to follow everything - let me put it this way - in a way, I can understand autism. Perhaps that's why I gravitate toward folk music, and mostly solo artists and duos. And why the classical music I like is mostly soloists.

Drums drive me wacky. It's like when I'm playing in a circle and someone's calling out I, IV and V chords. They're an annoying distraction. My brain and music theory are not connected. If I have to stop to think about which chord is the IV, I might as well connect myself to an I.V. for all the good it will do me. Drums tend to have the opposite of the intended effect as well. They make me want to play loud and drown out the noise, and tend to throw me off rhythm more than keeping me on.

And don't get me started on harmonicas.