So firstly I have to apologise for missing last weeks top 5 post, the Sounds of Steem event was a massive success and let's just say it took me a few days to recover from the 5 am radio finish - so I am super sorry I missed it guys, but I am trying to make up for it this week.

Secondly and in my opinion so much more important, I want to give a massive shout out to our newest judge @meno - he joined us as an entrant, wowed us with the Songwriters Challenge, has become Open Mic's official Sheriff and now he has crossed over and joined us as a Judge in the main Open Mic!

A massive congratulations, you have become a massive part of our little family and an integral part of the community - it is an honour to have you join us in this capacity, I have very high hopes and expectations of the awesome your bringing to the table.

Now before I get underway with my top 5 post here I also wanted to mention, I have been seeing and hearing a lot of complaining out there, pestering the judges for votes and spamming them links to posts, asking why their top 5's weren't out yet - well I have to say people need to stop all of this it's ridiculousness, if you do this to me prepare to be ignored.

This isn't to say you can't reach out to the judges and talk with them, but understand we all have lives and families outside of Open Mic - we donate our time and efforts and of late there has been a lot of demanding going on, this is not what Open Mic is about and cannot continue.

The support and votes we offer are not something you are entitled to, it is something we offer in an attempt to further support you - and for the most part people get it, but for those of you still not getting that the judges and hosts are not here at your beck and call.

We do what we do because we love music and this community, we want to see it grow and prosper - the hours it takes each week it keeps growing and the sheer majority of entrants understand and are patient with us, it is not you guys I am referring too here.

Also just to clarify all of the judges have a few days to complete their posts, you should not expect every judge to have their post out at the same time as the others - all judges that will participate in that week of judging, will have their post's active before @luzcypher's winners announcement post.

The post's will come - you just have to be patient!

So without further delays here is my judges top 5 selection post for week 72.

This week's top 5:

1st Place - @dominiqueguitars- story of my life

You had me hooked from the first second, the pristine clear guitar had me - then you just blew me away with those amazing vocals!

I am such a fan of the harmonies you guys gave us here today, such range and control just pure brilliance and an utter joy to hear.

The both of you just smashed it out of the park, I love hearing this song time and again and to be honest I have never heard it before - so you've not only made me fall in love with your performance, but a new song as well.

I just can't get over those astonishing vocals, it was just absolutely divine to hear and I can't wait to hear more from you in the future!

---

2nd Place - @yonderarrietajr2 - te vi llegar

Another perfect example of stunning playing and brilliant vocals, those harmonies just took me places and I couldn't help but move the moment you guys started.

I love a good catchy tune and this has it in spades, the vocal complexities interwoven with the rapid momentum of the song show the clear skill you guys have - the range and control were just spot on here.

As a singer I am definitely drawn to interesting and textured vocals, I love the complexities and above all the execution of the song overall - the vocal gymnastics had me and I love it no matter how many times I hear it, I can't wait to hear more from both of you!

---

3rd Place - @melavie - Promise

Wow @melavie you did it again, your amazing vocals sent shivers down my spine - how do you do it? I need to know lol, you have such an incredible gift and I just can't comprehend how so much talent can be contained in one person!

Your original music captures the stunning beauty of your vocals, the lyrics always deep and heartfelt - I can't help but form an emotional connection to your music and it's breathtaking quality.

You have made me a lifelong fan over the weeks and months your amazing talents have graced Open Mic, it has always been a pleasure and an honour to behold and take in the phenomenal music you create - I can never ever find the words to adequately praise your insane vocal control and ability, but know you have one of the greatest voices I have ever heard.

As always I want, no need to hear more from you - and I can't wait to see what you amaze us with next week!

---

3.5 Place - @innerdialogue - If I ain't got you

This is a week of stunning vocals and I just simply had to include your entry in my top 5, this is a beautiful song and you performed it brilliantly.

I love your playing your on point throughout the whole piece, but it's your vocals that sold me on the whole performance - your vocal control is just perfect throughout the song and I absolutely loved singing along with you.

The emotion and passion you convey through your performance was just breathtaking, I absolutely loved every second and I cannot wait to hear more from you in the future!

---

4th Place - @nathankaye - Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

So I only found out about you a couple of weeks back now and I have to say it has been an absolute pleasure getting to hear your music, even with this cover you have reworked it and made something truly unique and wonderful.

The passion in the vocals were just perfection, I love getting such emotive performances - I am sure you're aware by now I am quickly becoming an avid fan of your music.

I am a big fan of the unique coupling of the slide guitar with the slide didge, it just creates such an epic sound and feeling - this is not just the Aussie in me talking here, you have taken an ancient instrument and reworked in amazing ways I just can't get enough of.

I am so looking forward to seeing what else you have hidden up your sleeve for us, I just can't wait to hear more and soon!

---

5th Place - @zipporah - Home Tonight

From the instant you start you can hear the haunting emotion in the vocals, it drew me in and had me hooked - what an absolutely astonishingly brilliant song and performance.

You have such a clear and pristine vocal quality it takes the breath away, the simple subtle guitar accompaniment only works to further highlight your intense lyrics - the vocal embellishments just take this song to a whole different level for me, just pure vocal beauty displayed with grace and control.

This song is made even more phenomenal when you consider this is an original and it is just spectacular, I could listen to this song for hours on repeat and only grow to love it more!

I am just loving this entry so much and finding the words to properly convey the magnitude of awesome is somewhat difficult, but please know it was just stunning in every way imaginable and I can't wait to hear more from you soon.

---

Honourable Mentions:

@caracortada - Adan y Eva

@trevorpetrie - Little bird

@solburgos - Mandolín

@benleemusic - RISE UP

@jesuszoliz - Havana

@rho-sama - Best part

@senzenfrenz - melody and double stops

@adreini - On a Brisk Day

@honeymoon-1611 - Remedy

---

It's been another amazing week and I still struggle with my choices each time, second guessing my selections and wondering if I have made the right selection - in the end I go on feelings, cause at a technical level so many of your are just amazing musicians.

I love you all and if I included all of the entries I wanted to each week, we would be here for a very long time!

You are all so amazingly talented and it is such an honour and privilege to be a part of this amazing community, but for now I will leave it and hope to hear more from you all soon.

I'd also like to remind everyone again that all top five nominations from this week, will feature in the Steemit Musicians live radio show on MSP-Waves next week.

A massive congratulations to all of those to be featured in the show, it is going to be great opportunity to get to further share the awesome entries we receive each week - I can't wait to hear the audience's feedback on our selections and your entries.

I hope you can all drop by and support those who made this week's lists, I'm sure they'd appreciate the support - not to mention if you join you get to help choose the weekly 20 SBD winning entry!

Please join us for Steemit Musicians this Sunday 12-1 UTC!

Time Zone Converter

You can listen live at the mspwaves website- http://mspwaves.com/home/listen
You can listen on twitch-

You can join broadcast hosts in a special chat room on the MSP Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/kNxM7T6
You can check out http://mspwaves.com/ for more information

On the note of the community I thought I'd take a moment to mention that, over at the minnow support program on our discord chat room Peace Abundance and Liberty - the recently revitalised music room has been getting rather active lately.

As well as the recent burst of activity, we have also added a jukebox to the room - so now when you're chatting with people in the music room, you can choose and play music from youtube (this includes open mic entries, I may have already played a couple I really enjoyed).

So far I have seen a few open mic regulars hanging out and about on the PAL chat rooms, now we have a place where we can actively share music live with people were chatting with - this can help musicians in so many ways, not to mention it's just fun to hang out and chat over and about good tunes.

In addition to the new music room Peace Abundance and Liberty chat rooms have a lot to offer, you can access bots to vote on your posts, you can also meet and interact with over 5000 steemians in the channel - this can be a very useful resource to new steemians, but is also a fantastic place to meet and interact with like minded individuals on many different topics.

Again a big thanks to @soundlegion, @meno, @verbal-d and @passion-ground for all they do as judges, please remember to go and check out their top five selections each week and to @luzcypher and @pfunk thank you so much for making all of this possible - until next week.

Which was your favourite entry this week?

Like what you've read so far?
Check out my story

or follow me on twitter @krystlehaines
Please consider voting @ausbitbank for witness here