Put a Record On: An Instrumental Country Playlist for Writing (or whatever else you do)

As someone who listens to music all the time, and writes about music and musicians for a living, there is one curious time when I am extremely picky about what I listen to: when I am actually writing. And when I am in that deep work, ignore everything else and put words on paper kind of flow, I simply cannot listen to songs with lyrics. Yes, of course I spend a huge amount of time with an artist's current record and catalogue before sitting down at the computer, and often flip back and forth to songs while I am at work - but I try to do that fully immersed and paying attention to each sonic choice and lyric, and not by having it running in the background. Because listening and writing are two very separate disciplines, and I treat them that way.

So, while sometimes I write in dead silence, other times I need a little something - but it simply cannot have lyrics. Luckily, country, bluegrass and roots music is a treasure trove for stunning instrumental tunes.