Over the past three-plus years, I've offered up a number of playlists on this site. Some of these mixes have been music festival primers, others were my attempts to cultivate specific moods through sound. I've made a few end-of-the-year countdown playlists, and a bunch more were thrown together just for fun. Now this morning, I'd like to share a playlist that I made last week for a specific trip I'm taking here in a few days.
To keep a long story short, last June, a couple friends approached my wife and I with a proposal. They had purchased a fixer A-frame outside of Waldport on the Central Oregon Coast, and wondered if we wanted to get in on a co-ownership deal. We said yes, and in the months since then, we've stripped the property down and built it back up. The place isn't done yet, but now we have a retreat outside of the city, where we can spend time in the woods and by the water. And maybe we'll offer artist residencies someday? Who knows. Really, we're still figuring things out.
Now about this playlist. In the early days of DC, I shared a "Driving to Astoria" mix - a blend of songs that would take me from the front door of my house to the northwesternmost part of the state. I wanted to create something similar for this A-frame drive (which'll be a regular trip for years to come), but it's a 2.5-hour journey from Portland to Tidewater, and I didn't really feel like curating and finessing a playlist that long. The most scenic part of this drive, however, is when the highway winds away from the small town of Philomath, and climbs into the mountains. Eventually the road descends again, and snakes along the Alsea River until our cabin appears on the left. That leg of the trip is an hour long, so I made a playlist which matches that dreamy Route 34 drive. It's jam-packed full of strings, keys, soft electronics, and plenty of nature-themed ambiance.
I've embedded the mix below, and like all other playlists on DC, please play it unshuffled and uninturrupted from start to finish. If you choose to listen, that is. And since it's a Spotify embed, feel free to check out the individual artists on Bandcamp, and consider buying some of their music or merch there.
Bonus points if you actually listen to it while driving between Philomath and Tidewater.
Thanks, and enjoy!