Wintry Mix for 2006

Winter is probably the easiest of the seasons to identify sonically: it's brooding, or somber, or baleful, or crystalline, tinged with yearning and longing for days and love past.

So on this, the Winter Solstice, when I had already taught a whole two-hour class before the sun rose, I give you my Winter Mix for 2006. It's surprisingly uptempo for its wintry ways, if not upbeat. The first three songs in particular are a relish to listen to in headphones, and the Hartford/Leadbelly cover of Maggie's Farm is up there with the bees' knees.

I parred this down to a CD friendly size, cutting the likes of Beck, Styx, more Joanna Newsom, and, unsurprisingly, a bunch of Hartford. The fact that only about a fifth of this mix is John Hartford is an achievement.

If you haven't heard of some of these artists, do give them a listen.


Winters Love 4:55 Animal Collective
Dear Prudence 3:56 The Beatles
Big Country 5:30 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Don't Stop Believing 4:10 Journey
The Greatest 3:24 Cat Power
Maggies Farm 2:48 John Hartford & Leadbelly
Daughter 3:50 Pearl Jam
Fairytale of New York 4:32 The Pogues
Sadie 6:02 Joanna Newsom
Red Right Ankle 3:29 The Decemberists
Hold My Hand 4:15 Hootie & The Blowfish
Landscape Grown Cold 2:20 John Hartford
Love Love Love 2:48 The Mountain Goats
Sample In A Jar 4:39 Phish
Crown Of Love 4:42 The Arcade Fire
America 3:37 Simon & Garfunkel
Howard Hughes Blues 3:01 John Hartford