The Way of Listening: Songs That Stayed With Me

Dec 12, 2025

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In today’s episode, I’m doing something a little different. Lately I’ve been ending each show with what I called the Podcast After-Party—I share a song I love, along with a few words about why it matters to me. I never meant it to be anything formal. It was simply a delight, a way of sharing the music that has struck some essential chord in my life (no pun intended).

I’m not a scholar of music, nor a musician, nor anything close. But I’ve been lucky. My early years in Austin, I worked at a little blues bar called Antone’s—where I landed only because my car broke down—and it opened my ears in a way I could never have planned. I learned to hear. That hearing became a kind of companion to my practice: a way of sensing spaciousness, precision, longing, and joy in another language.

As this year comes to an end, I wanted to gather all those after-parties into one place. Today’s episode is simply that: the songs I’ve shared with you, with my original commentary, offered again for your listening pleasure.

The songs featured in this compilation are:

Episode 28
“Christine Leroy” by the Johnson Mountain Boys
An early American ballad that moved me deeply and launched the after-party itself, reminding me how music carries both sound and devotion.

Episode 29
“Tribal Dance” and “Albatross” by Peter Green
Two pieces from a singular musician whose playing embodies spaciousness, warmth, and directness. His work is a study in attunement rather than control.

Episode 30
“My One and Only Love” by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
A tender, refined expression of what I call “undone”—an invitation to let the heart be unguarded.

Episode 31
“Blue Sky” by The Allman Brothers Band
A song about presence, joy, and the beauty of two instrumental voices finding harmony without forcing it.

Episode 32
“Swim Away” by Toni Price
A haunting a cappella piece about longing for home; spare and full of ache.

Episode 33
“Double Trouble” by Otis Rush
A dark, piercing blues performance that shows how restraint can reveal more than virtuosity.

Episode 34
“Wichita Lineman” by Glen Campbell (written by Jimmy Webb)
A spacious, aching ballad often called one of the greatest songs ever written. A portrait of quiet yearning that still feels timeless.

Episode 35
“Zungguzungguguzungguzeng” by Yellowman
A cornerstone of reggae’s remix tradition, built on the famous “Diseases riddim.” A reminder of presence, rhythm, and vitality.

Thank you for listening, for sharing this practice and this music with me, and for making space for a little after-party each time we meet.

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