Dog Hill Music

Three lists and three themes: home/family, food, and thanks 

A holiday celebration deserves a great playlist and Thanksgiving is no exception. But what is Thanksgiving music? The holiday lacks an expansive catalog of purpose-made music. It’s not like Christmas or even Halloween, which boasts anthems like Monster Mash and sweeps in a wide array of material that fits the day’s macabre theme. Admittedly, there are some songs that expressly mention Thanksgiving, like Arlo Guthrie’s protest classic Alice’s Restaurant Massacree or Roosevelt Sykes’ more obscure Thanksgivin’ Blues. But it would be challenging to fill an entire playlist with literal Thanksgiving songs, even though Alice’s Restaurant is nearly 20 minutes long. So a Thanksgiving playlist requires a bit of creativity. 

One of my earliest attempts at crafting a Thanksgiving playlist was as a DJ at WHUS FM, Storrs, Connecticut. I decided to fill my one-hour Dog Hill radio show with Thanksgiving music. For me, Thanksgiving means nostalgia, home, and family. In keeping with that, many of the songs I selected were about family, going home, missing home, or places that could be home. I also associate autumn in general with acoustic music, so sonically it was a relatively mellow playlist. I should mention that my mission on Dog Hill was to transition smoothly between genres. So the playlist moved from blues to soul to rock to folk, country, and bluegrass. Here’s that original radio playlist, in order, with explanations of my subjective (and sometimes tenuous) reasoning. 

1. 2120 South Michigan Avenue, by the Rolling Stones (from 12 x 5). Every episode of Dog Hill started with an instrumental: this one is named for the address of Chess Records, which was the home of so much of the blues music that inspired the band. Home can take on different meanings…
2. Lovejoy, Ill, by Albert King (from Lovejoy). In this title track from an underrated album by the blues guitar giant, Albert King sings “I live in a town called Lovejoy, and everybody got peace and love in Lovejoy and that’s the way it should be.” Sounds like a good Thanksgiving sentiment if I ever heard one.
3. Going Back to Louisiana, by Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown (from Big Ol’ Box of New Orleans). A song about going home.
4. Down in Mississippi, by Pinetop Perkins and B.B. King (from Pinetop Perkins and Friends). A song about home. 
5. Swanee River Rock (Talkin’ ‘Bout that River), by Ray Charles (From The Best of Ray Charles: The Atlantic Years). One of my absolute favorites from Ray Charles’ incredible Atlantic records period; this is another track about missing home and family.
6. It Don’t Have to Change, by John Legend Feat. the Stephens Family (From Get Lifted). This gospel-infused ballad hit all the bases for my playlist: home, nostalgia, and family. Admittedly the song mentions Christmas, not Thanksgiving, but the specter of Christmas lurks behind many Thanksgiving celebrations anyway.
7. Girl From the North Country, by Joe Cocker (from Mad Dogs & Englishmen). I picked this wistful Bob Dylan classic about missing someone in part because of its themes of nostalgia, loss, and travel. I went with this live Joe Cocker cover because it made for a smooth sonic transition between R&B and rock.
8. Helpless, by Neil Young (from Decade) A song about home and the past.
9. Homeward Bound, by Simon & Garfunkel (from The Best of Simon & Garfunkel). “I wish I was homeward bound . . .”
10. Down South, by Tom Petty (from Highway Companion). This stand out track from Petty’s excellent album “Highway Companion” is all about going home. Its lyrics capture the full spectrum of emotions that can entail, from the humorous (“Pretend I’m Samuel Clemens, Wear seersucker and white linens”) to the haunting (“Chase a ghost down south, Spirits cross the dead fields”). 
11. Copperline, by James Taylor (from One Man Band). This vivid, impressionistic portrait of Taylor’s childhood in North Carolina embodies the sad sentiment that sometimes you can’t go home (“I tried to go back, as if I could”). I love the spare piano and guitar arrangement from this live version. 
12. Oklahoma Hills, by Arlo Guthrie (from Live in Sydney). Another song about being “many miles” from home. When I was a kid, my parents took me to see Arlo Guthrie at UCONN’s Jorgensen Center. He performed this song by his father Woody Guthrie and the song has stuck with me ever since.
13. On the Road Again, by Willie Nelson (from The Essential Willie Nelson). For those who think of home as the open road.
14. Miss the Mississippi and You, by Jerry Lee Lewis (from Mean Old Man). The title of this Jimmie Rodgers classic is self-explanatory. I picked this late-career cover by the rock legend because it provided a nice transition between country and country-rock.
15. Blue Canadian Rockies, by the Byrds (from Sweetheart of the Rodeo). I took any excuse to play songs from Sweetheart of the Rodeo on my radio show, and it remains one of my favorite records. The excuse here was that this is another song about missing a place and a person.
16. I Long to See the Old Folks, by the Stanley Brothers (from Angel Band: The Classic Mercury Recordings). Another song about missing family.
17. Cumberland Gap, by Snuffy Jenkins (from Classic Bluegrass from Smithsonian Folkways).

I got some positive feedback about the episode, but in retrospect there were probably more straightforward concepts I could have run with for Thanksgiving. One obvious thematic choice would have been to focus on some classic Thanksgiving menu options. A non-exhaustive list includes:

1. Stuffy Turkey, by Thelonious Monk 
2. Turkey Chase, by Bob Dylan
3. Pass the Peas, by the J.B.’s
4. Country Pie, by Bob Dylan
5. My Sweet Potato, by Booker T. & the M.G.’s
6. Do the Mashed Potatoes, by James Brown
7. Mashed Potatoes U.S.A., by James Brown & The Famous Flames
8. Groovy Gravy, by Quincy Jones
9. Turkey in the Straw, by Bill Monroe and Doc Watson
10. Give Him Cornbread, by Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers
11. Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee (and Let’s Have Another Piece of Pie), by Glenn Miller, Marion Hutton, and Ernie Caceres
12. Wavy Gravy, by Kenny Burrell 
13. I’m a Potato, DEVO
14. Soul Dressing, Booker T. & the M.G.’s
15. Sweet Potato Pie, by Ray Charles and James Taylor
16. Everybody Eats When They Come to My House, Cab Calloway & His Orchestra
17. Cornbread, Lee Morgan
18. Long Gone Like a turkey through the Corn, Lightnin’ Hopkins
19. All that Meat and No Potatoes, Louis Armstrong

And of course there are songs about being thankful. Is it bad that I didn’t think of this for my radio show? Examples include:

1. I Thank You, by Sam & Dave
2. Thanks A Million, by Louis Armstrong
3. Humble Me, by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
4. I Want to Thank You, by Otis Redding
5. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), by Sly & The Family Stone

I’m sure I omitted music you would have included, and included music you would have excluded. Holidays and music mean different things to different people. But I hope this post at least provides a helpful starting point for fans of roots music, americana, rock, jazz, and classic R&B looking for Thanksgiving music ideas.