Capturing that perfect autumn day is like trying to catch lightning in the bottle. Unlike summer, which may offer several quintessential “summer days,” fall is much more fleeting. The season is harder to define, as September often still feels like summer and November can be an intro to winter. The daylight becomes shorter and leaves less time to bask in autumn’s glow. Maybe it’s this hard-to-capture quality that intrigues me so. For autumn adventures, there needs to be a soundtrack. And although I’ve had many fall soundtracks through the years, I give to you this Autumn Playlist to help usher in the season.
The idea was presented to me by Jim, co-host of the Backyard Road Trips podcast. (We’ll be discussing further our choices from our respective autumn playlists in an upcoming podcast.) What I found myself doing was instead of trying to capture those strictly “autumn” feelings; blue sky, changing leaves, slight breeze, the wearing of a light jacket, this playlist presents the season as one of change. The optimism but the reminiscent quality of early autumn, the tranquility of finally finding that elusive October afternoon and the descent into November. November is a difficult month, is it death or abundance? Bare trees, cold weather, and early evenings or is it the bountiful harvest celebrated at Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season? Hopefully, this playlist will lead you to every aspect of the season. Many of the songs represent the multi-faceted nature of the season directly while others simply invoke a certain “feeling.”
And one more word of note- this is a Spotify playlist and what Spotify giveth, Spotify also taketh away. This means there were certain tracks from albums not available on the service that had to be left off but due to the wide selection available on the streaming service, there were plenty more to choose from. Secondly, there will be familiar favorites here and others that I’m sure you’ve never heard of before. It starts with the first track from George Winston’s Autumn which to me incomparably represents the season.
Give it a listen.
BYRT’s Autumn Playlist:
- George Winston – Colors/Dance
- Cheryl Wheeler – When Fall Comes to New England
- Better Than Ezra – This Time of Year
- Josh Ritter – Homecoming
- Badly Drawn Boy – The Shining
- Neil Young – Harvest Moon
- The Doors – Indian Summer
- Paolo Nutini – Autumn
- Chet Baker – September Song
- Jens Lekman – Maple Leaves
- Mercury Rev – Autumn’s in the Air
- Chad & Jeremy – September in the Rain
- Neil Diamond – September Morn
- James Taylor – September Grass
- George Strait – The Chill of an Early Fall
- Joseph Arthur – Black Lexus
- Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – September
- Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater
- Daryl Hall and John Oates – Fall in Philadelphia
- Frank Sinatra – The September of my Years
- John Coltrane – Central Park West
- Emilio Bonito – Autumn
- Iron & Wine – Autumn Town Leaves
- The Gaslight Anthem – Autumn
- Pondering Judd – World Series Beard
- John Moreland – East October
- Eva Cassidy – Autumn Leaves
- Vince Guaraldi – The Great Pumpkin Waltz
- Richard Shindell – Are You Happy Now?
- Matt Pond PA – Halloween
- Matt Pond PA – Halloween Two
- Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – If We Were Vampires
- Noah Kahan – Halloween
- The Gaslight Anthem – Halloween
- Donovan – Season of the Witch
- Cliff Haslam – Old Pendle
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?
- M. Ward – Sad, Sad Song
- Zach Bryan – November Air
- John Cragie – Boston in November
- Tom Waits – November
- Nat King Cole Trio – ‘Tis Autumn
- Chet Baker – Autumn in New York
- Willie Nelson – Moonlight in Vermont
- Will Ackerman – The Waves of November
- Suzanne Shu – Gift of Finest Wheat
- Guns ‘n Roses – November Rain
- Taylor Swift and Bon Iver – exile
- Sun Kil Moon – Alesund
- Tracy Silverman and Thea Suits Silverman – Simple Gifts
- Jay Ungar and Molly Mason – Thanksgiving Waltz
- Tom Rush – The Circle Game
- Matt Pond PA – Fall Two
- Josh Ritter – Miles Away
- U2 – 40
- George Winston – Thanksgiving
