Music can provoke powerful emotional responses. Sometimes your favorite song, or album played on repeat, can be just what you need to get through a rough patch. This year has certainly been difficult. What music or song or album has helped you get through this year? OPB’s Jerad Walker will join us to talk through the year in music.
You can listen to a playlist of songs suggested by our listeners here.
This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I am Dave Miller. As another tumultuous, traumatic year comes to a close with no real end in sight to the tumult or the trauma, we thought we would turn to some music. We asked you recently what you listened to this year to help you get by, a song you had on repeat or an album you turned to get through the day. We’re gonna hear a bunch of your selections right now and we’re gonna hear some favorites from one of our favorites, Jerad Walker. The music director for OPB is with us once again. Jerad, welcome.
Jerad Walker: Thanks Dave. Thanks for having me.
Miller: This is another version of the show we did last year. I gotta say, I didn’t think we would have to do a “music that got you through the year” again in 2021, but here we are. Could you start us off? What’s one of your picks?
Walker: When we spoke last year, the mood in the country was somber and I think it was a pretty dark time for a lot of people. This year, by contrast, has been much more up and down and in some ways more stressful because people were constantly trying to search for normalcy. I think my listening habits tried to counter that and at times I embraced escapism and gravitated towards sounds that would just keep me even-keeled. The band, Reyna Tropical – which is from Portland, Oregon and has a member also based in LA – is pretty indicative of that sound. Their song “Luna” is one of my favorite songs from 2021 and I found myself just coming back to it over and over again because it is gorgeous and incredibly dreamy.
[music playing]
Miller: That’s “Luna” by Reyna Tropical. As I noted, we’re going to hear a bunch of songs from our listeners because we asked for your voicemails to hear what you have been listening to a lot this year. We’re going to start now with our listener choices with Andrew in Milwaukie.
Voicemail: My favorite album this year was Big Red Machine: “How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?” The favorite track on that so far – there’s many good ones, but so far my favorite track is “Phoenix” which features Fleet Foxes & Anaïs Mitchell as well. I feel like, in a time of such isolation, it was really comforting to hear some of your favorite artists come together and make such a beautiful song.
[music playing]
Miller: Here’s another voicemail we got. This one is from Ted Born.
Voicemail: The song that got me through a bad case of COVID was Pink Floyd: “Coming Back to Life.” At the time, I was lying on my stomach prone and listening to my phone and on 60 liters of oxygen at the time. I did not know at the time if I was going to be on a ventilator or not. But that indeed was my song that got me through that period of my life.
[music playing]
Miller: And we got one more COVID story; here is Annie Tomlinson in Wallowa County.
Voicemail: It’s currently pounding snow out here. 2021 has been a really hard year for me and my family. My husband got long COVID, which is why we moved all the way from North Carolina here to Oregon. The album that got us through this year is called “Purgatory” by Tyler Childers.
[music playing]
Miller: Those listener choices were Tyler Childers: “Purgatory,” Pink Floyd’s “Coming Back to Life” and Big Red Machine: “Phoenix.” Jerad Walker, music director of OPB, is with us. Jerad, you have another choice for us.
Walker: Well that last submission came from Wallowa County and this next song that I’m going to highlight is from a musician that emerged from Wallowa County this past year. It’s Margo Cilker, who has an incredibly inspirational story that’s born from isolation. Enterprise is her hometown. It’s the largest town in Wallowa County. It’s only 2000 people, and it’s one of the most isolated places in the country. It’s also devastatingly beautiful. Her album is filled with vivid stories inspired by isolation in that beautiful and rugged place. This is a song from that album which is called “Pohorylle.” The track is “Tehachapi” and it’s just a fun and rambling track that makes you feel like you’re on a road trip going through wide open spaces. It’s the perfect song to escape isolation.
[music playing]
Miller: That’s Oregon’s own Margo Cilker, “Tehachapi” is the name of the song. We’re gonna hear some more choices from some folks who called in starting now with Heather Clemens who left us a voicemail from Parkdale.
Voicemail: The song that really got me through this year was the song “Resilient” by Rising Appalachia. It was pretty much the best song to describe how I needed to be and how the world needed to be.
[music playing]
Miller: That’s the song “Resilient” by the band Rising Appalachia. Here is a voicemail we got from Cat.
Voicemail: The album that has got my kids through 2021 is by a local artist named Kelli Welli and her album, “Let’s Go, Pistachio”, which my kids love…
[music playing]
…and let me tell you this album has prevented many a meltdown on the way to and from preschool and it kept us sane through many long road trips, including one to see grandma because we couldn’t put our unvaccinated kids on an airplane. I just want to thank Kelli Welli for keeping us all a little sane in 2021.
[music continues]
Miller: I gotta say, as a parent of young people who also are prone to meltdowns, that a song that keeps those meltdowns at bay, even for a few minutes, is worth its weight in gold. Let’s listen to one more choice right now. This is Judy in Milwaukie.
Voicemail: I discovered Jesse Cook on Pandora this year. When the gym closed, I had to do something for exercise and I decided to dance. Jesse Cook is the best music to dance and stay in shape with when you can’t get to the gym.
[music playing]
Miller: Thank you, Judy in Milwaukie, for that. We actually got a comment on Facebook that sort of combines what we heard from our last two listeners. Scott Jorgensen says he has been dancing to the Rolling Stones with his two-year-old daughter. Jerad, what do you have for us?
Walker: A common theme that I’m hearing from listeners is the idea of resiliency. There’s a song coming up next that kind of exemplifies that in Portland’s music scene. I cover mostly Oregon music for OPB, and I think one of the most interesting artistic spaces in the state at the moment is the hip-hop scene. The pandemic very easily could have halted the progress that that community has made in recent years, but it didn’t because it’s filled with so many resilient artists. Donte Thomas and Bocha are two MCs who exemplify that community’s DIY work ethic and the eclectic sound in that scene. This song is from a record they put out in 2021 called “BUDS (Be U, Don’t Settle)”. It’s got subtle but catchy production and it puts the focus on their vocals which are incredible. This is “GG # 4.”
[music playing]
Miller: From Portland hip-hop to something very different. We actually got two listeners who suggested the same artist when they left voicemails for us. We’re going to hear two voices right now, Gloria in St.Johns and Barbara McReal from Salem.
Voicemail: My song that gets me through everything, even when I was with small children, is Linda Ronstadt singing “You’re No Good.” I used to clean house listening to her and it was just a great incentive.
[music playing]
Voicemail: I am so glad to be able to say to other people how much Linda Ronstadt’s music has meant to me during this pandemic. Every single thing she’s done just lifted my spirits. So thank you Linda Ronstadt.
[music continues]
Walker: Dave, Linda is a huge favorite in my household. My wife is a diehard Linda Ronstadt fan, so we’ve been listening to her music on repeat this year as well.
Miller: There are some convergences here. Let’s listen to another voicemail that came in; this is Dave Hall.
Voicemail: There’s a song by R.E.M. called “Everybody Hurts.” It’s a beautiful arrangement, and it really pulled me through a lot of difficult days and a lot of difficult, dark times. I love that song and I recommend it to everybody. When they’re feeling down and maybe feeling like life is too much for them, well this song might help you lift yourself up.
[music playing]
Miller: “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M. Here is another voicemail from Isaac.
Voicemail: An album that has been a cornerstone of my 2020 to 2021 experience has been Shinedown’s “Attention Attention” album. As someone going through a recovery process and a great wealth of personal growth and development, this album has been a constant inspiration to me and an affirmation that I am not alone in my mental health struggles. As a musician, this album is a constant inspiration for me to develop my skills and just to remember the reasons why I love music and why it is a passion.
[music playing]
Miller: Jerad, you know what’s striking about a lot of these – and some other ones we’re going to hear in the next 10 minutes – is that they’re not subtle messages. There’s a lot of different genres here, but it seems like so many people want to hear: “Tell it to me straight. We’re going to be okay, right? I’m not the only one going through this. There’s a light somewhere.” This is not a time for subtle music, it seems.
Walker: No, it seems to be kind of on the nose. I think people are looking for direct messages and things that can speak to them in a straight-talking kind of way. I understand that. Throughout the past couple of years, I’ve had moments where I’ve needed that as well. So, I think that’s a shared experience across the board for sure.
Miller: What else do you have for us right now?
Walker: I talked about the search for normalcy this year at the very top of the segment. This was a year where live music was occasionally impossible to partake in, or maybe you just didn’t feel comfortable going to a show. So I found myself personally watching a lot of music documentary films at home. The movie, “Summer of Soul” was the live music event of the year for me personally. This was directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who a lot of listeners may know from the Roots and also Jimmy Fallon’s house band. It documents a series of performances during the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The song that I want to highlight is by the band, Sly and the Family Stone. This comes from the official soundtrack from the documentary film which is coming out in January or early next year. But the story behind the making of this documentary is almost as fascinating and powerful as the music that’s featured in it. The production team that made the original footage couldn’t find a commercial outlet for it for nearly 50 years, despite it having an all world line up with artists like Sly, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and Gladys Knight & the Pips. This performance was just mind blowingly good. It was a time capsule of an incredible moment in music. This is Sly and the Family Stone, live from the Harlem Cultural Festival, and this is “Sing a Simple Song.”
[live song intro]
“Ladies and gentlemen, the internationally known, the dynamic, Sly and the Family Stone.”
[music playing]
Miller: [Chuckling] I have to say, I literally caused physical pain – maybe irreparable harm – to Steven Kray, making him fade that down, because it is.. He just wrote to us on a little chat, “Feel free to add this is the greatest band of all time.” I’m sorry Steven. There’s more we have to get to, but you can play it right after the show. Let’s listen to another voicemail that came in. This is Matt in Tigard.
Voicemail: The album that got me through 2021 was “Over The Top” by TWRP. This is a band that’s really not afraid to embrace the ridiculous. They have these crazy costumes and on-stage personas. But in 2020 they channeled all of that wild energy into this earnest, relentless positivity that’s just so infectious. So we’ve got this high energy, super catchy electronic funk rock song singing things like, “Tell your friends that you love them because we need each other now more than ever.” It’s just so good.
[music playing]
Miller: And here is a call from Phil Braun.
Voicemail: The song that got me through 2021 was “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” a Dolly Parton song that was covered by Waxahatchee…
[music playing]
Voicemail: …We got to see her live here in Portland at the Wonder Ballroom. Live music coming back was something that I missed a lot and we needed to bring us all together. At the end of her live shows, at least here in Portland, she would end with “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.” It was something that we just needed to hear, brought us all together and hopefully it will be a brand new day in 2022 as we get through the pandemic.
[music continues]
Miller: Jerad, what do you have for us? What’s your last choice?
Walker: I just wanted to say, I love Katie Crutchfield and Waxahatchee as well. And Dolly Parton, I can’t think of a more unifying force in American culture than Dolly. [Laughs]
Miller: For real.. Literally, for real.
Walker: Totally, she’s wonderful and I think everyone can agree on that. My final selection is a song that a lot of people know but may not know who originally wrote it. There was a documentary that I also watched this year called “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.” It came out in late 2020, but I didn’t get around to watching it until this year. It’s a retrospective that reframed the work of a historically maligned band.. by the “disco sucks” crowd of the 1970s and 80s. But it retraced their career and the deep influence they had on songwriting and modern music production. Their sound and their contributions to disco and dance music are everywhere now. I think it’s great that a band like that is being kind of reassessed. Despite being most famous for their contributions in disco, “To Love Somebody” is probably their masterpiece. It’s a song that’s been performed by everyone from Nina Simone to Karl Blau, and it’s a testament to just how good of a band they were. This year it started to mean a lot to me; I found myself coming back to this song over and over again, because it’s beautiful and it’s just endlessly positive.
[music playing]
Miller: Jerad, thank you for that. Alright, we’ve got one more voicemail from a listener. This is Brawny Griffin.
Voicemail: [Inaudible] me going through rough patches, actually for quite a while and especially through 2020 and 2021, is every once in a while, I will just put on, “Hey Jude”…
[music playing]
Voicemail: …and everything starts to feel better – chokes me up even thinking about it.
[music continues]
Miller: Jerad, thank you so much.
Walker: Thank you for having me, Dave. And thank you to everyone for sending in their submissions. This is just a wonderful experience and I hope it becomes a tradition for us... even when things are a little better.
Miller: Yeah, I was gonna say, music can always get us through, and ideally we’ll have less to get through. That’s Jerad Walker, music director for OPB.
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