The Albums of My Life

Let's take a walk down memory lane...

In highschool, Taking Back Sunday "Tell All Your Friends" and The Ataris' "So Long, Astoria" riddled my CD player and original iPod. I remember thinking these bands were the greatest thing in the world. If I was feeling particularly Christian it was The Juliana Theory's "Emotion is Dead" or Squad Five-O's ST "Squad Five-O."

I remember listening to The Juliana Theory's "Love" on the drive home from California when I was just 16. These albums led to a phase of "emo" centered music. Stuff that was valuable at the time but never really stuck. Discovering a local CD shop and stumbling onto albums like Shivaree's "Who's Got Trouble?" and Suffering and The Hideous Thieves' "Rats in Heaven" changed things. I began to ask questions about where music could go. I became obsessed with new and old artists. Johnny Cash's "At Folsom Prison," Bright Eye's "LIFTED," and The Good Life's "Album of the Year" influenced my folk stage greatly. I traveled around San Antonio to find The New Amsterdam's "Killed or Cure" the day of its release.

Life got busy. Fewer albums stuck out during this time. Denison Witmer's "Are You a Dreamer" will forever remind me of NM and my honeymoon. Brand New's "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me" defines a trip to Spain. A Fine Frenzy's "A Bomb in a Birdcage" defines two weeks in Scotland. I got in wrecks listening to Northstar's "Is This Thing Loaded?" and Chvrches' "The Bones of What Your Believe."

We sang the Wicked Soundtrack (particularly "Popular") to Kenzie who cried every time you changed her. Judah went to sleep many nights listening to Miranda Lambert's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." Liv is currently falling asleep to everything David Ramirez.

There is a special way that music touches our lives. Specific songs, playlists, and albums are able to etch themselves into the very fabric of our history. These are just a few of the ones that touched mine.