the one about music
plus...a playlist!
Recently, the folks at Spotify shared our “year in review” listening habits with us. What hit me most wasn’t how much Tom Petty I listened to, but that Spotify said these were the songs that “got me through 2020.” Those of us who love music know that it can do double duty as co-pilot, therapist, best friend and mentor. It gets us through quite a bit by being all those things and more. But I think on top of all that, music is also our time machine, the thing that throws us back to a certain time and place.
Not sure many of us want reminders of this year, though.
It’s been strange watching the pandemic impact the way I listen to music. In April, John Prine died from this disease, which still angers me as I type this sentence. I’m going to miss John Prine, his sense of humor, and his enormous heart.
Live music also disappeared from the planet. Venues closed, and musicians started busking in front of their webcams instead. The Newport Folk Festival was canceled, a crushing blow to Caroline’s and my summer tradition. At least when the festival returns, we’ll be back with Eliza in tow. I look forward to zipping through the family gate (finally!) And I can’t wait to stick her on my shoulders, covered in enough sunscreen to make her look like a Henry James character, and watch the final set as the sun goes down on Fort Adams.
Until then, music has actually been my sedative. Snaps to music for doing some hardcore heavy lifting for me these several months. It’s been the antidote to doom scrolling. It’s the soundtrack to my walks with Rosie, or nights in the kitchen. It’s been there at the end of the day while we relax on the porch. There’s a line in “Graceland Too” on the excellent new Phoebe Bridgers’s album that goes “she turns up the music so thoughts don’t intrude.” That’s what music has been like in COVID. It’s the words in my head that allow me to temporarily push away all the other ones.
Anyway, for this edition of the newsletter I figured I’d share with you some of my favorite music from the past year. I restricted my own list to five albums that stood out to me, but there weren’t only five. I could write a whole post about the new Tom Petty box set. But they nevertheless were a big part of helping me get through this year. Check them out, maybe you’ll like one or two…
I’m sure living with me means Caroline winds up listening to a lot of music she can’t stand. So I know I’ve landed on something good when I catch her singing and dancing along. Haim is one of those bands where we overlap. It’s a fun record that will remind me of driving over the bridge to Newport on our way to the beach. I’ll associate it with cooking outside and drinking prosecco in the kitchen. It’s a bubbly good time.
I will likely buy everything that Phoebe Bridgers makes for as long as she makes it. She’s one of those artists for me now. I think she’s that for a lot of people these days. I just can’t get enough of the humor and vulnerability in her music. Maybe someday I’ll even understand it, too.
What I love about the first Strokes albums was how fun they were. That was my first reaction to seeing the Strokes on Saturday Night Live playing “Bad Decisions” off the new record. These songs are fun. I had put the Strokes away in a drawer, but this new album changed that. The songs skip along with that same Strokes-y energy that I first fell in love with. The end result is a Strokes album that feels classic, familiar and cozy, like a high-school sweatshirt.
I listened to this album when it first came out in the spring, and I’m still listening to it. The songs on this album are sturdy, well-written and enjoyable. And her voice has so much personality and texture. They’ve gone everywhere with me, and I’ve yet to grow tired of them. Tip to tail, it might be the best thing I’ve heard all year.
Dougie Poole—The Freelancers Blues
I think I’d enjoy spending time with Dougie Poole. I started feeling bored by the joyless “authentic” country music out there. But Dougie’s stories of millennials getting high on the job, Tinder break-ups, or a daydreamer who plans to fix his life by escaping to Los Angeles but doesn’t get past New Jersey, feel authentic to me. They’re funny, too, and bump along with a perfect blend of country twang and synthesizer, like Willie Nelson in an Apple Watch.
Additional Content!!!
A playlist!
In the spring, I shared some songs that helped me through the first wave of quarantine blues. This second wave is hitting a little different, so I updated it. This batch of songs I hope will get you through the rest of this year and into the next. I think it pairs well with a cheap Spanish red, a weekday commute, or an afternoon standing over a pot of chili.