Tuesday, September 27, 2011

My Playlist

I love music.  I know what you're thinking, "Everybody loves music, Casey.  Catch up with the real world, already!"  But seriously, I really love music.  (Who else devotes seven years of their life to get a degree in this stuff?)  But I'm not just talking Mozart and Schumann and a bunch of other dead guys.  I like jingles.  I like radio songs.  Mostly I love bluegrass.  In fact, that's how Ryan introduces me to people.  "This is my girlfriend, she listens to bluegrass."

I also create playlists.  Not real ones, I'm way too lazy for that.  But mental ones.  I have playlists devoted to driving, rainy days, sunny days, my dad, ex-boyfriends, work, etc.  I'll hear a song on the radio and go "If I had a playlist for _______, this song would be on it."

Well, as I was mental-playlisting the other day, I got to thinking about what kind of music would be in MY playlist.  The playlist that describes me.  And here it is, songs that rich into me, rip my heart out, stomp on it a little, brush it off, and put it back into my chest.  These are songs that describe parts of me that I didn't know I had (I'm speaking metaphorically, not anatomically, you pervs).  These songs have worked themselves into the fabric of who I am.  And here they are:

"Made to Last," Austin Cunningham
"Me and God," The Avett Brothers
"Somebody Like You," The Belleville Outfit
"Stoned," Blackie & The Rodeo Kings
"Tangled Up in Blue," Bob Dylan
"Red Dirt Girl," Emmylou Harris
"We Know This Town," The Fox Hunt
"Lord, We Get High," The Fox Hunt
"Wrecking Ball," Gillian Welch
"By the Way They Dance," Jump (Little Children)
"We're All In This Together," Old Crow Medicine Show

It's all folky, with a banjo rolling somewhere in the background.  It's melancholy, reverent, regretful, yet hopeful.  It's the kind of music that describes the Appalachian Mountains, heartache, and dusty old bars.  I can't describe the way this small collection of songs makes me feel, other than to say I feel "home."

Do you have a song or songs that move you this way?

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