Mary Chapin Carpenter released a new album this month; to my great horror, I was unaware that she had one in the pipeline, or even that she had a tour date here in the Old Pueblo back in June. I discovered these major oversights while surfing her website looking for song lyrics; I couldn’t do much about having missed the concert, but the new album (and one that she released in January) immediately landed in my iTunes library as quickly as the payment could get processed. Personal History has been on deep repeat ever since; it’s another master class in how amazing writing paired with the perfect music can evoke the rawest of emotions — across the entire spectrum.
I’ve never tried my hand at writing music, but I often use music as part of my writing. Artists such as Mary Chapin Carpenter provide me with the right kind of background when I’m trying to reach for a certain feeling in a given passage or section of a novel; perhaps it’s a bit of a cheat for me, but when I need to hang on to something visceral while a character is dealing with what I’ve thrown at them, the perfect soundtrack can help to keep me in that space. A happy side effect of that has been a strange intimacy with the poetry of crafting a song; I remain in awe of anyone who is capable of rhyming in perfect time with the beat.
(I have so many questions! Does the music come first? Or the lyrics? I think the answer is often both — or either, depending on the artist.)
In any event, listening to Personal History made me think back to my post from January of last year where I outlined some of the music that has become the soundtrack of my novels. Looking it over once more, I found myself smiling that not much has changed in the eighteen months since; I’ve added a few new tracks, perhaps, but the overall balance is still the same. I thought it would be fun to put them all together in a single list this time out, including some of the new material that trickled in with the addition of Kate and Tenoch.
These are presented in no particular order (and, honestly, is just a fraction of what is on my writing playlist).
Background/Emotional
- Peter White
- Catalonia
- Light of Day
- Chasing the Dawn
- Bueno Funk
- Caravan of Dreams
- Venice Beach
- Mindi Abair
- Oooh-Aah (Catalina)
- 3rd Street Promenade
- Everything’s Gonna Be All Right
- Nothing Ever Hurt Like You
- True Blue
- Bloom
- Michael Broening
- Summer In Blue
- Let It Breathe
- Carol Albert
- Sunshine Yellow
- Perfect Sunday
- On My Way
- Michael Lington
- Show Me
- Brian Simpson
- What I’m Waiting For
- Nathan Mithcell
- Minha Amada
- Nelson Rangell
- The Way To You
- Brian Culbertson
- Come On Up
- Let’s Get Started
- Let’s Go
- Step Into Love
- Dance With Me Tonight
- Fly High
- Nils
- Caught in the Groove
- Mary Chapin Carpenter
- The Way I Feel
- What You Look For
- The Age of Miracles
- Something Tamed, Something Wild
- The Long Way Home
- Almost Home
- Transcendental Reunion
- Soul Companion
- Between Here and Gone
- It Must Have Happened
- On With The Song
- The Hard Way
- I Feel Lucky
- Stones In The Road
- This Shirt
- Bitter Ender
- Hold Everything
- Trisha Yearwood
- They Call It Falling For A Reason
- Everybody Knows
- Believe Me, Baby (I Lied)
- There Goes My Baby
- Dolly Parton
- Here You Come Again
- Love Is Like A Butterfly
- The Bargain Store
- Big Dreams and Faded Jeans
- Time For Me To Fly
- Sara Evans
- Perfect
- 21 Days
- Real Fine Place To Start
- As If
- Céline Dion
- Set My Heart On Fire (I’m Alive x And The Beat Goes On)
- That’s The Way It Is
- I Drove All Night
- A New Day Has Come
- I’m Alive
- Adele
- Skyfall
- Set Fire To The Rain
- Willie Nelson
- Maria (Shut Up And Kiss Me)
- Mendocino County Line
- Alison Krauss & Union Station
- The Lucky One
- Gravity
- Restless
- Crazy As Me
- Roseanne Cash
- Burn Down This Town
- Dreams Are Not My Home
- Modern Blue
- Reba McEntire
- Whoever’s in New England
- Fear of Being Alone
- One Promise Too Late
- The Heart Won’t Lie
Background/Soundtracks
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Jerry Goldsmith)
- Main Title/Klingon Battle
- Floating Office
- The Enterprise
- Leaving Drydock
- The Meld
- The Thomas Crown Affair (Bill Conti)
- Black & White x 5
- Goodnight / Breaking & Entering
- Glider Pt. 1
- Glider Pt. 2
Action/High Tension
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (James Horner)
- Surprise Attack
- Kirk’s Explosive Reply
- Captain Terrell’s Death
- Battle in the Mutara Nebula
- Genesis Countdown
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (James Horner)
- Prologue and Main Title
- The Mind-Meld
- Stealing the Enterprise
- Sunset on Genesis
- Bird of Prey Decloaks
- The Black Hole (James Barry)
- Zero Gravity
- The Door Opens
- Durant Is Dead
- Into The Hole
- Star Trek, Volume 2 (Original Television Soundtrack) (Gerald Fried & Sol Kaplan)
- What Is Doomsday Machine
- Goodbye, Mr. Decker
- Kirk Does It Again
- The Challenge
- The Ritual