I think I reject the premise of this category. Music doesn't make me fall asleep, not literally. I simply get too engaged in listening to and dissecting the music to "nod off." I stayed overnight at a friend's house one night many, many years ago, and we slept in the same room. He listened to music to fall asleep; it kept me awake half the night.
All that aside, though, there are songs that I find "peaceful" or "calming," and I imagine that to be the general point at issue here. And to that end, there are a couple of New Age artists I'm particularly fond of. Patrick O'Hearn is one, and I considered making his song "Trust" my official pick here. I find it an especially relaxing piece of music. ("Peace" of music?)
But really, my favorite song in this genre is "Rain Maiden," by Wind Machine. Sadly, this is another song I could not find on YouTube; again, I'll have to send you over to Amazon for their 30-second sample. Wind Machine is my favorite band in the New Age genre for a variety of reasons. In no particular order:
- They're a Colorado-local band. I've seen them in person many times, performing in area shows.
- They're very gifted musicians. They create a distinctive sound from an instrument they call a "guitjo," a 7-stringed guitar where the three bass strings are replaced with secondary treble strings.
- For a long stretch, the son of one of the founding members was a part of the band, a talented multi-instrumentalist (vocals, keys, synth-flute, penny-whistle, and more) who has since gone on to play in the bands of several solo artists. And this "kid" (no longer) is roughly my age. At the time I first learned of the band (in high school), I found this to be pretty inspiring.
- Remember what I wrote about being in Little Shop of Horrors in high school? Well, we had a live band of professional musicians for the show, and the bass player was the first bass player for Wind Machine. (Yes, this is how I first learned of the band.)
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