Humans tend to be habitual creatures. We crawl into our little worlds of comfort and normality that we establish through routine and regularity. In light of pondering the act of regimen there is really nothing more routine or natural than the passing of the seasons. For the music consumer seasons move in an interesting way. The world of mass media marketing attempts to herd listeners through seasonal trends, tropes and predetermined avenues of aural consumption. I’m not attempting to dissuade anyone from moving along with the current of this marketing tool, rather, I think it pertinent that the music we consume reflect the seasons we move through. With the passing of Summer and Fall nigh approaching I’ve noticed my anticipation build for the sounds I associate with Autumn and the crawl to Winter. They are not so much exclusive seasonal listens, but just tones, themes in the songs that I tend to associate with a certain season or time.
Music is something that is absorbed and appreciated through more senses than just the ears. For many of us it can be the event, the experience of seeing something live. Being crowded into a stuffy bar in the middle of January, shoulder to shoulder with complete strangers all sharing in the same event but perhaps feeling something different. Or if you live someplace that turns bitterly cold and desolate in the Winter months there is the solace of coming home to an empty living room with an old radiator humming along to the sound of Hank Williams, maybe a warm glass of whiskey to steady the chill. The Summer car ride with the windows down, the warmth of the air caressing the skin as CCR plays on some oldies station. The first Spring rains, windows of the house open and a steel guitar swooning your mind out the door and into the falling water. It’s all too easy to romanticize, but isn’t that what music is about in some ways?
There is something to be said for how humans react to natures seasonal evolution. Perhaps even our preference in music is reflective of how we cope with change and find some sense of routine in the shift.
Some of my seasonal favorites:
Spring:
Flogging Molly
The Floorbirds
Lucinda Williams
Elliot Smith
Summer:
Wilco – especially Summer Teeth
Brian Setzer
Bob Dylan – Another Side of Bob Dylan
Jayhawks
Mason Jennings
Bruce Springsteen
Fall:
Son Volt
Mississippi John Hurt
Dawes
George Jones
Winter:
Bon Iver
I always watch “Don’t Look Back”
Bob Dylan – Times They Are A’Changin
William Elliot Whitmore
Neil Young
