Stephen King's Favorite Music

The songs on these pages originate from three sources: an April 2005 Stephen King radio appearance with Steve Earle on an Air America program called The Revolution Starts Now and two editions of his Entertainment Weekly column, The Pop of King - April 2005 which encouraged readers to download several songs, and December 2005, reviewing the best albums and singles out in 2005. This page contains the songs from Air America. Songs mentioned in the two Entertainment Weekly columns are provided on a second page, linked here and at the bottom. Much of the music mentioned here is available for preview, either partially or fully, from the artists' websites, CD Baby, MP3.com, Yahoo Music and other similar hosts. Enjoy your stay.

Song Title: Artist and Notes:

You Are My Sunshine | Surfin' Bird Whiskey Lullaby This Should Go On Forever Love Minus Zero/No Limit Air America Gene Autry Album: You Are My Sunshine Released: 1941 (as single) King said he found the song in his i-tunes collection and played it over and over again; he's a fan of Autry and calls him a "good, straight-ahead, country/western singer. They didn't call him the singing cowboy for nothing." Song By: Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell (some early versions list Paul Rice, the Rice Brothers, and Pud Brown) The Trashmen Album: Surfin' Bird Released: 1964 King first heard it when he was 14, with his best friend at the time; they thought, "We love it!" They also thought their parents would just hate it because "it means nothing." They bought the record that day. Song By: Dallas Frazier and Steve Wahrer Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss Album: Mud On The Tires (Brad Paisley) Released: 2003 King thought this song was "one of these old, Appalachian ballads" and sounded great but wasn't sure who performed it. He soon learned the singers and mentioned the voice of Alison Krauss was "sweet." Song By: Bill Anderson and Jon Randall Wanda Jackson Album: This Should Go On Forever Released: 1961 (as single) King said, "I love this song, which is an out and out torch song." Jackson is now known as the queen of rockabilly music and much of her music has been covered by others over the years. (The 2004 album mentioned, Hard-Headed Woman includes the song but is sung by Kristi Rose instead.) "That is the essence of honky-tonk," King declared. Song By: King Karl (Bernard Jolivette) Bob Dylan Album: Bringing It All Back Home Released: 1965 On this final track, King said, "I was 15, 16 years old and it popped my eyes wide open." This appeared on Bob Dylan's second album as, what King calls, "a sweet love song." Song By: Bob Dylan _________________________ For a free copy of the Air America program, minus commericals, follow the link below. Click here for download _________________________ For more music information, visit the Music From Entertainment Weekly page linked below.

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