Inspiration
The Soundtrack Behind TVJM
3 min read
The Playlist
I wrote most of The Vanishing of Jessica Muir with music on. One song was playing the night the idea first took hold. Others showed up during late-night editing sessions when I was chasing a specific feeling — tension, loss, a fight scene, a quiet drive through the woods.
This soundtrack covers everything from a character’s state of mind, to backstory, to the action of a chapter, to feel. But what is what? I’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader listener.
Since private services can add or remove songs unpredictably, here’s a list for reference. The irony of saying that while linking to YouTube isn’t lost on me—but it’s about as close as humanity has gotten to an open cultural archive.
| Artist | Song |
|---|---|
| Majical Cloudz | Disappeared |
| Autre Ne Veut | Age of Transparency |
| Guy Clark | Dublin Blues |
| Benjamin Tod | Goodnight Destin |
| Luke Bell | Sometimes |
| Colter Wall (feat. Belle Plaine) | Caroline |
| casper allen | Carving Creases |
| Charles Wesley Godwin | All Again |
| Steven Drozd | Rocket Man |
| Radiohead | All I Need |
| Mary Gauthier | I Drink |
| Sage Francis | The Buzz Kill |
| Puscifer | Grand Canyon |
| Mick Gordon | BFG Division |
| Tom Waits | Everything You Can Think |
| Marilyn Manson | Tainted Love |
| Benjamin Tod | Who I Am Ain’t Who I’ve Been |
| Old Crow Medicine Show | The Warden |
| Jose Larralde | Quimey Neuquen |
| C.W. Stoneking | The Love Me or Die |
| Drayton Farley | Pitchin’ Fits |
| Colby Acuff | If I Were the Devil |
| Portishead | Sour Times |
| CeeLo Green | No One’s Gonna Love You |
| The O’Jays | Sunshine |
| Nine Inch Nails | And All That Could Have Been |
| The Strumbellas | Spirits |
| POLICA | Wandering Star |
| Rage Against the Machine | Hadda Be Playing On the Jukebox (Live at Milan Dragway) |
