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Mar 31, 2020 By Mark Moody Photography by Christa Joyner Moody COVID-19 Quarantine Playlists

As most of us are understandably stuck inside for the foreseeable future due to the necessary COVID-19 quarantine, we’ve asked our writers to put together Spotify playlists to help us all pass the time. Some will be mixes of music they are currently listening to as a means of getting them through the crisis, others will be centered on a particular theme, scene, genre, or decade. With each one we’ve asked the writer to also submit a photo showing some aspect of their quarantine life, be it their home office desk, hanging with their kids who are off school, or something else. Here is a COVID-19 quarantine playlist from our writer Mark Moody that centers on his favorite songs from Texan artists.

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I’m from Texas. The photo above is not of me and it wasn’t taken in Texas. It’s not even that old of a photo. My wife Christa took it last summer in the Cinque Terre region of Italy. We were in the central square of a tiny coastal town called Corniglia as the sun was setting. The tourists had all cleared out for the day and the locals were starting to come out of their homes. We had called a taxi to take us back to the town we were staying in and as my daughter, Emma, and I waited on a bench, Christa wandered off to take photos. That’s when she took the above photo of Francesco. Not only did she meet Francesco, his grandmother invited Christa into their walled garden and Francesco pointed out all their vegetables and other things.

What does any of that have to do with a COVID-19 playlist? Nothing and everything. I’m not much on making playlists or “best of” lists or anything like that. My Top 10 songs of all time list has three songs on it: Little Feat’s “Willin’,” Michelle Shocked’s “Anchorage,” and Phoebe Bridgers’ “Scott Street.” More to come. All those songs share a deep streak of nostalgia and my playlist here is not a new one, but one started when I first subscribed to Spotify. Titled Texas Tunes, these are songs by Texas singer/songwriters (and honorary Texan John Prine, of course). Many of these songs I first listened to in my 20s before I moved away from my home state.

So this playlist is mainly about nostalgia. Nostalgia for a more innocent time. Nostalgia for 2019 and a trip to Italy. Hell, nostalgia for four weeks ago to be honest. Hopefully there will come a time when COVID-19 is vanquished. And hopefully there will come a time again when a kind stranger invites you into their garden to show you around. Until then, keep your family close and well. And maybe listen to some songs from an earlier time in your life that make you remember what it is about music that you love so much. Or, in summation of all these thoughts, as the late great Guy Clark succinctly put it: “I wish I was in Austin, at the Chili Parlor bar.”

Follow Mark on Twitter at @finelytunedsou1.

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