Round Midnight

Music can be a powerful inspiration. For me at least, it’s important to carefully select a “soundscape” when writing or painting. I sometimes find the music I am listening to guiding, or at least coloring, where I go with my project. It can definitely give me energy and either lift (or lower) my spirits. I have many, almost “curated” playlists depending on the mood I want to set–

Jazz (name of the playlist is “Cocktails on a rainy night in 1969.” Don’t ask me why. I’m a writer maybe?)

• Round Midnight (Sonny Rollins)
• Darn That Dream (Dexter Gordon)
• Remember (Hank Mobley)
• Soul Station (Hank Mobley)
• Blue and Green (Miles Davis)
• Kind of Blue (Miles Davis)
• Blue Train (John Coltrane)
• September Song (Django Reinhardt)
• Just One Chance (Dinah Washington) See page 74 of A Moveable Marfa
• Please Send Me Someone To Love (T-Bone Walker) Okay, that’s really blues
• Embraceable You (Sarah Vaughan)

Modern (relatively, okay some are a bit old)

• Hayling (FC Kahuna)
• Syndicate (The Fray)
• Outro (M83)
• Je Reviens (Autour de Lucie)
• Le Tournesol (Autour de Lucie)
• Take a Picture (Filter)
• Jupiter 4 (Sharon Van Etten)
• We Are Fine (Sharon Van Etten) Will see her soon in concert.
• The Stars (Moby)
• Crush With Eyeliner (R.E.M.)
• High Hopes (Panic at the Disco)
• Primadonna Like Me (The Struts) I want to see the Struts in concert.
• Kiss This (The Struts)
• On My Own (Ulrich Schnauss)
• Malibu (Hole)

Western (Not a huge fan but I occasional get in a mood for “Honky Tonk”, good roadtrip music, see page 251 of A Moveable Marfa ).

• I’ll Be Leaving (Kristin Diable) From near New Orleans, Baton Rouge, plays locally
• My River (Kristin Diable) She’s worth seeing live.
• I Want To Know Her Again (The Wagoneers)
• Stout and High (The Wagoneers)
• Guitars, Cadillacs (Dwight Yoakam) Saw him in Knoxville once, the best concert!
• Honky Tonk Man (Dwight Yoakam)
• Long White Cadillac (Dwight Yoakam) Perhaps the best Country song ever! Think of this song playing as Steve goes to pick up Pilar in El Paso. Click the link to see a pretty good video.
• The Streets Of Bakersfield (Dwight Youkam) I know, sorry, I love Dwight
• Just Call Me Lonesome (Radney Foster)
• Burn Me Down (Marty Stuart) Perhaps the “honkiest” Honky Tonk song ever.

NOLA Nightclub (Think of this playlist playing very loudly in the underground Bar on Avenue Foch on page 175 of A Moveable Marfa. Remember? The guy chugging Vodka from the bottle? I really saw it.)

• Crazy (Felon, Lauren L’aimant)
• Timeout (Felon)
• Hide & Seek (Felon)
• My Friend (January Embers featuring Lauren L’aimant)
• Run Free (Apres featuring Lauren L’aimant)
• Deny My Love (Kingdom 7 featuring Lauren L’aimant)
• Back Where We Started (Mark Mckenzie featuring Lauren L’aimant)
• Swell (Dub Mix, Mark Mckenzie featuring Lauren L’aimant)
• Lounge (Chill Lounge Music Cafe)
• Hiding (Icarus)
• Moments (Felon featuring Lauren L’aimant) Okay, I also love Lauren L’aimant.

Atmospherics (Music that just really affects your mood, if you have a pulse)

• Breathe Me (Sia)
• Drops of Jupiter (Train) Saw then twice in Paris.
• Open Your Eyes (Snow Patrol)
• Spiritual Spiritual (B Tribe)
• I Just Tell Myself (Balligomingo)
• Tiny Vessels (Death Cab for Cutie)
• Letoile featuring the Max the Sax (Parov Stelar)
• Blacking Out The Friction (Death for Cutie)
• She Moves Through The Fair (B Tribe)
• Coy (Wild Colonials)
• Middledistancerunner (Chicane)
• Saltwater (Chicane)
• Brothers On A Hotel Bed (the ultimate atmospheric song), love the spare beginning, click to check out an incredible video with Lauren Mayberry

Okay, well that’s too many, but really it only slight scratches the surface of the music that inspires me.

…Oh yeah, I forgot, practically anything by the Rolling Stones! Saw then in July, they are the BEST. I didn’t even include my Classic Rock list. It’s kind of predictable.