A Moody’s Studying Record for Your Subsequent Fall Highway Journey

Friends, fall is here and I am so dizzy with it. There’s something infinitely special about this time of year: my cute cozy jackets are finally in rotation and my morning coffee is different when I feel a little chill (and nostalgia) in the air. It’s hard to feel down when you know the childish treats of Halloween are just around the corner.

For me, fall also means a bit of adventure. Living in New York has its perks, but being close to nature isn’t one of them — and that sometimes weighs on my soul. I grew up in the Midwest, where vast plains and vast horizons were my standards growing up. I loved being outside, especially when the changing leaves started showing. So as soon as midsummer rolls around, I start planning my foliage-filled getaways for the upcoming season. Next weekend, my husband and I are heading to the Adirondack Mountains, where we’ll hike, enjoy our charming cabin, and visit a brewery or two. We’ve also planned a road trip for the last week of October: we’ll start in the Poconos of Pennsylvania, head into the Finger Lakes region of central New York and end in the Catskills of eastern New York. York.

And you better believe I’ll have a damn good playlist all the time. In high school and college, my best friend and I mixed CDs every season, but eventually switched to digital playlists. I filed a bunch of them in a « Fall Tunes » folder, which lovingly houses old playlists with names like « August Chill », « Back to Skool », « Autumn Out East », etc. (We were so cool, weren’t we?) Listening to them again this week triggered so many emotions, because they went through so many autumns in my life.

To curate the playlist below, I’ve selected some of the greatest hits from this dossier, as well as some more recent discoveries; it offers everything from Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rhiannon’ (for those supremely witchy vibes) to Japanese Breakfast’s ‘Posing for Cars’ (for a glorious guitar solo that will drown you in all the thrills). And, yes, I added Blue Öyster Cult’s « (Don’t Fear) The Reaper » because no fall playlist would be complete without a slightly creepy 70s rock classic. Hope you enjoy these songs on a dull fall afternoon and enjoying all that October has to offer while you can.

Full Reading List:

1. « Rhiannon », by Fleetwood Mac
2. « The Mess is Mine », by Vance Joy
3. « New Slang », by The Shins
4. « Call Me in the Afternoon », by Half Moon Run
5. « If I Ever Feel Better », by Phoenix
6. « Across the Line » by Gerry Rafferty
7. « I Can’t Fight » by Lianne La Havas
8. Hallucinogenics by Matt Maeson feat. Lana Del Rey
9. « Honey », by Real Estate
10. « For Emma », by Bon Iver
11. « September », by Ayoni
12. « Ophelia », by The Lumineers
13. « (Don’t Fear) The Reaper », by Blue Oyster Cult
14. « Full Moon », by The Black Ghosts
15. « One Man Wrecking Machine », by Guster
16. « When I’m Little », by Phantogram
17. « White Winter Hymnal », by Fleet Foxes
18. « Fade Into You », by Mazzy Star
19. « Rosyln », by Bon Iver and Saint-Vincent
20. « Posing for Cars », by Japanese Breakfast

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