A Playlist for Eutopia

All the kids seem to be doing this lately: putting together a list of the music that helped inspire their new books, sort of a mix tape for readers, a bit of an aural window into the writer for the curious. Stephen King did it here for Doctor Sleep; Joe Hill did it here for NOS4A2. In that spirit, I thought I'd offer up this one, for my 2011 novel Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism.

Because music played a tremendous role in the writing and the re-writing, and also keeping poor, exceptional farm-boy Jason Thistledown and brilliant, beaten-but-not-defeated surgeon Andrew Waggoner, alive enough in my mind to consider a sequel.

There is a sequel coming. Right now, we're calling it Volk, and it follows the characters and creatures that showed up in 1911 Idaho to 1931 Europe, and we're aiming for 2015.  Can't say too much more than that now.

But I can say this: Here's the playlist for Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism--starting with the music accompanying the book trailer:




...and moving on to these:

Theme from Jurrasic Park by John Williams
Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes
White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes
Ellis Island by Thomas Newman (from the Angels in America Soundtrack)
The Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
God's Away on Business by Tom Waits
Christian Zeal and Activity by  John Adams
Son by The National
The Pines of the Appian Way, by Resphighi (from the Pines of Rome)
God Shuffled His Feet by the Crash Test Dummies
Look To The Rainbow by Astrud Gilberto
Down To The River To Pray by Allison Krauss
O Death by Ralph Stanley
You Can't Unring A Bell by Tom Waits