I always joke that I'm 'an album guy', meaning I'd rather listen to a full 10 to 12 song record from one band than listen to playlists. This isn't entirely accurate, though. I came up musically in the early 2000s when you could download tracks legally from websites like Myspace and Purevolume. Bands would showcase a few of their songs and sometimes allow listeners to download one track for free. The downloadable tracks felt like gold to me. I'd download songs from bands like Haste the Day, Kids in the Way, Blindside, the Used, Mae and so on (I had an emo/screamo phase, ok?).
I'd create and burn playlists onto CDs, then write on the discs with permanent markers so I could tell them apart. I remember one particular mix stayed in my car for years, and it truly felt like an album to me….
I recently forayed back into playlisting, this time on Spotify. I felt the urge to create a playlist about Addiction & Recovery. If you know my story intimately, you'll know I'm in process, and I know many others who are on a similar journey. It seemed inadequate to just include my songs, so I started remembering the songs I listened to through my dark night of the soul, as well as songs that are impacting me today. I can't say enough how healing it was to remember and hear some of these tunes again.
Some of them are hopeful and give me an amazing vision for the future. Others just hold me in my pain and make me feel seen. The playlist includes songs from Embleton, The Tallest Man on Earth, Andy Squyres, David Bazan, The National, John Mark McMillan, Sun Kil Moon, Roo Panes, and Edison Glass. I'm sure there are others I'll still add. I did realize that I write a deficit of hopeful songs, a deficit I hope to correct in the coming years.
If you want to check it out you can find it on Spotify and Apple Music, but sharing my playlist is only half the point. I want to encourage you to build your own playlist and raise an ebenezer* to remember how far you've come in an area of your life. Feel free to share your experience with me.
*Ebenezer: a commemoration of divine assistance, according to Miriam Webster.
