The Playlist: Listen to these 15 tracks during the last stretch of winter

As readers may recall, last month Xpress debuted its new monthly music feature, “The Playlist.” The concept for the series is fairly simple. Each month, we ask a local musician to create an ideal playlist on a given theme.

For our February edition, we reached out to singer-songwriter Julia Sanders to tackle the latest topic: songs for making it through the final stretch of winter.

Sanders, who is  the co-creator of the Country Brunch series at The Grey Eagle, was happy to participate. “Hope it’s not too much of a downer,” she wrote when submitting her list. “I tried to pick some songs that capture this moment of healing for Asheville.”

In addition to featuring artists she admires, we asked Sanders to include one track from her discography. Her selections, as well as a brief conversation about them, are included below. Be sure to download the playlist at avl.mx/ejn.

Xpress: Despite your warning, I did not find this playlist to be a downer at all. It takes listeners through the full range of emotions — from the lost and lonely to the lovesick and adventurous. Can you speak to  your selection process and the story/atmosphere you were seeking to create? 

Sanders: When you mentioned the transition from winter to spring concept it felt like an opportunity to select some songs that honor this unique moment in time for Asheville. I am not a cold-weather person, so this time of year for me always comes with a lot of renewed hope and feeling like I’m coming back to myself in a way. But this year has got the extra weight of the city still recovering from Hurricane Helene and all the grief that came with it. So many of the natural spaces that normally would be the first places we see those little glimpses of spring are still pretty devastated here. I still can’t bring myself to go for a run on the greenway or hike my favorite trail. Just driving by is hard. So I wanted songs that both have that sense of spring possibility and coming to a new chapter but also still honoring all the sadness and fear we’re holding as a city, and country and planet.

There’s definitely a sense of both struggle and possibility across a lot of the songs on this playlist. A line that sticks out is from the chorus of Hurray for the Riff Raff’s “Buffalo.” In it, songwriter Alynda Segarra sings, “Two weeks just to catch the buffalo/some things take time, I know they do.” I found myself thinking about the buffalo in terms of post-Helene recovery — and the fact that it’s going to take our community a good, long while before we track down that sense of pre-Helene normalcy. This song might be my favorite from the list. I’m curious if there’s a number on here that’s currently resonating with you the most in relation to WNC’s rebuild. 

There are so many on here that describe that feeling, but the song that has been in my mind since the storm is Esther Rose’s “Safe to Run.” I think many of us had this idea that Asheville was somehow a protected place from the extremes of climate crisis, but the hurricane definitely proved us wrong. Now with the recent fires in California on the news right as we’re starting to get back to some normalcy here in Asheville, it really just reminds us all that there is no safe place to run. We have to protect and heal our planet because nowhere is getting a pass. I also love that along with the darkness of that song she has the repeating line “angels surround,” which reminds me of the feeling after the storm when our community came together in such powerful ways to care for each other.

I love the contrast between lightness and darkness in that song and so many on this list. There’s that line from Nikki Lane — “Don’t let the darkness get you down.” Another killer one comes in Julie Odell’s “Space,” when she sings: “Cause that’s the way that life goes, right?/You can’t be wrong for your whole life/You can simply get stuck/in the darkness and muck.” As a songwriter, I’d love to hear you riff on a single line from one of the songs on your playlist. Which one makes you pause each time you hear it and think: “Damn, I wish I wrote that”? And what is it about the line that resonates with you from a craft perspective?

I love every line from that Julie Odell song; it’s such a spell.

“Can you stop constantly being afraid, and be proud of the things you make?
Will the doubt cease to occupy the space?
Will your mind allow a positive embrace?
I do believe that could be the case.”

I love these lyrics because it feels so stream-of-consciousness but still very poetic. I really like when song lyrics feel like you’re in the moment with the person writing them and that’s what I get from those lines in “Space.”

Also Laura Marling really gave me goosebumps with this verse in “Child of Mine”:

“Last night in your sleep, you started crying
I can’t protect you there, though I keep trying
Sometimes you’ll go places I can’t get to
But I’ve spoken to the angels who’ll protect you”

That verse just really resonates with me as a parent. There’s so much unfolding in the world right now that I want to protect my kids from, and also I know there is only so much I can do. That helplessness mixed with fierce love is something she really captures in that line describing their nightmares. And then we get another line about angels and protection like in “Safe to Run.”

The Final Stretch of Winter

“Winter’s Come and Gone,” by Gillian Welch

“Safe to Run,” by Esther Rose, The Deslondes

“Send the Sun,” Nikki Lane

“A Lot of Love,” by Liliana Hudgens

“Heart of the Woods,” by Kacey Musgraves

“Space,” by Julia Odell

“Open the Road,” by Leyla McCalla

“Line to Go,” by The Deslondes, Riley Downing

“Buffalo,” by Hurray for the Riff Raff

“Donut Seam,” by Adrianne Lenker

“When We Were Wild,” by Erika Lewis

“Child of Mine,” by Laura Marling

“Western Wind,” by Julia Sanders

“Dusty Road,” by Kiki Cavazos

“Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” by Waxahatchee