A few years back, Strangers Guide magazine invited me onto their Editorial Board. Among other things editorial including research, story ideas, and connecting writers with story editors, I curate the Stranger Sounds Spotify music playlists for each issue.

Each issue is about either a region, a country, a US state, or a city which presents a unique and formidable challenge. Where to begin? How broad or deep should I go, knowing that far more great music will be left out than can be included? With this in mind, I asked myself “what artists, songs, and styles—famous or unknown—serve to collectively form to the soundtrack of that place or the myth of it, what do I personally dig, what is available on the streaming platform, and what is the middle ground between these worlds.

I hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I enjoyed researching and curating them.