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Growing up in rural West Tennessee, I wasn’t exposed to very much polka music.  For years my only real exposure to polka was the occasional Myron Floren song on the Lawrence Welk Show.  My next exposure to polka that had any impact on me was when a Camelot Music store opened at our local mall. This store had a wider variety of albums than the JC Penny and Sears stores in the mall.  They even had an international section that included a few polka albums. I never listened to them, but I could tell from their album artwork, the accordion figured into polka music. “Weird Al” Yankovic was probably my next exposure with his occasional polka versions of rock songs but I don’t think that should really count.  The Shmenge Brothers skits on the SCTV television show was probably the most authentic exposure to real polka although I didn’t really appreciate it.  It wasn’t until I saw the Big Joe Polka Show that I got a real idea of what polka was about.

Most of my religious songs are based on specific stories from the Bible.  This is the main reason that the title of my first CD was Bible Stories. My motivation for writing these songs comes from a desire to share the stories from a different perspective, usually the view of someone on the sidelines in the story.  I will at least choose a character in the story that usually doesn’t have much of a voice in the story that we read.  I credit my familiarity with these stories to years of reading the Bible.  I haven’t always been a Bible reader.  There are a couple of key moments in my life that brought me to the point where I am today and the way that I look at Bible Stories.

As American Idol comes to the end of its final season, I decided to consider who are the top ten stars that the show created. These are the artists who had fame beyond the show. I am ranking them in the order from most to least fame. Strictly my opinion, share your thoughts in the comments.