Words and music

Because of my job, I'm naturally exposed to TV more than other areas of pop culture, which means I often wind up finding out about those areas when they happen to cross over with TV. Music's a big one in that regard; basically, the only way I hear about new (or new-to-me) bands these days tends to be when one of their songs is featured on a show I watch, like "Chuck."

One of my favorite examples of this is Rhett Miller, whose self-titled third solo CD (after many albums with his band, Old 97's) hits stores today. More on this after the jump...

I first encountered Miller when I was watching Showtime's short-lived "Going to California," where the theme, "Lost Along the Way," was performed by Old 97's. I liked the song a lot, picked up a copy of the band's "Too Far to Care" CD at Tunes in Hoboken (my brick-and-mortar music store of choice at the time) and have basically devoured everything by the band ("Battlestar Galactica" fans will want to watch the video for "Dance With Me" from the most recent Old 97's album), and by Rhett solo. ("Our Love" -- which has been played on a few TV shows, and, since I can't find an official video, which you can hear in this Veronica Mars/Logan fan video -- is one of the most-played songs in the andreikirilenkotattoo household/car.)

The new album continues the Rhett/band dichotomy, in that it's a bit poppier than the stuff he does with Old 97's (but only a bit), and at times more melancholy. (Sample song titles: "Nobody Says I Love You Anymore" and "Happy Birthday, Don't Die.") And I've been listening to it pretty constantly since I got a review CD a few weeks ago.

So, two-part question: 1)What's the best musical discovery you've ever made while watching a movie or TV show? 2)Regardless of where you first learned of the singer/band, what new music is currently in heavy rotation on your music-playing device of choice?