Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself
This is a magazine about all the ways songs flow through our lives.
Hi all,
I had a piece in last weekend’s New York Times Magazine expressing my skepticism about the ever-growing phenomenon of tours where musicians play old albums in their entirety. This brought in a new wave of subscribers, so I’m throwing another orientation session.
Tracks on Tracks has been up and running since May. It’s a magazine about all the ways music flows through our lives. It’s distributed by email (and the Substack app). The standard installment is an essay where one person — either me or a guest writer I admire — articulates their relationship to one song. They’re not music reviews, and don’t rely on any specialized knowledge about any particular genre. They’re little essays about life — growing up, friendship, love, loss, aging, memory — that pay special attention to the ways that songs color our experiences and become part of our stories.
In my case, the essays are also starting to add up to a non-linear autobiography of sorts. You can see me in high school and college, see me finishing my first novel, see me becoming a parent, see my driving my kids to daycare.
I’ve also made room for other little features (by me and others) that embody the spirit of the project without quite conforming to the “one writer + one song” template. These are called Bonus Tracks.
It’s all been really rewarding: a nice tonic amidst the ongoing contraction of professional opportunities for writers. And I’ve been able to put more time into it than I might have otherwise thanks to people who signed up as paid subscribers. I’m especially grateful to my earliest payers because, so far, I’ve given people very little concrete incentive: everything has been free. The exception is “TRACKS ON TAP,” an epic playlist — accessible only to paying subscribers — that logs all the songs mentioned in the pieces published here.
In the weeks to come, though, I will be rolling out new subscribers-only features, starting with “Tracks on Teevee,” a series looking at magical moments of song in movies, on television, and across the web. Paid subscriptions help me set aside the time to do all this, and also support the quality of free pieces available to all. Every subscription makes a difference, and I appreciate every one.
More on all this soon, Happy Thanksgiving! ✹
Oooh can’t wait for the new series!
About like online reception? One of my best first magazine pieces was about a tiny riff on Kipling being quoted by David Petraeus. I still have Kipling google alerts, lol.