Sublime eclectic mayhem. That’s been my playlist project and musical life, one that begins with The Muppet Movie soundtrack and later involves performing hymns, death metal, surf, and bluegrass. I’ve played in theaters, tents, and basements, for multi-stage festivals and squirrel rodeos. I’ve written and recorded music for The Drunken Odyssey. Sublime eclectic mayhem. A warning and a welcome for joyous noise, for those navigating what Beckett called “this bitch of an earth.”

willowed and winnied
those middle years
what a larkin 
what stark thrushlings 
magic hour crushed 

slews of bright moments 
candy corn rows of memory
starched felt gravities
brittle little tumes 
of suns and sundowns 

An almost blues and
the broken slide 
we were almost too big for

but grandpa still grew pumpkins 
for us and how that made 
no impression until decades later 

my hand taloned
thinking about playing spades 
and drinking from jars under
the crowns of porch lights

Tuning While Moonbeams Play

Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “Alabama Jubilee” – Bob Blake aka/”Dr.Bob” (The Music Doctor)
2. “Moonlight Bay” – Doc & The Mads
3. “Do It Again” – Waylon Jennings
4. “Silhouette” – Elias Stemeseder, Christian Lillinger
5. “Music for Airports, 1/1 (Radio Mix)” – Bruce Brubaker
6. “Rubber Shirt” – Frank Zappa
7. “Runnin’ Wild (78 Version)” – The Chordettes
8. “Reproduction” – Tab Hunter
9. “Spiders in The Trees” – Caleb Landry Jones
10. “Over the Rainbow” – Roy Smeck
11. “Don’t Stop It Now” – Lewis Baloue
12. “Moonlight Bay” – Doris Day with Paul Weston & His Orchestra & The Norman Luboff Choir
13. “In Due Time” – Dreamcrusher
14. “The Hag” – Landless
15. “Type 3 – The Achiever, Pillar Coral” – Mia Pixley, Rob Finucane
16. “Moonlight Bay” – American Quartet
17. “HEALTH” – Leo Chang
18. “Moonlight Bay” – The Darol Rice Silver Saxophones

Stephen McClurg (Episode 473) composes and improvises in Serenity Dagger, The Abdomen, and other projects. Along with session work for mid-Alabama singer/songwriters, he frequently collaborates with musicians across the state adding bass, guitar, and synths to friends’ recordings. He currently writes reviews for Horror DNA and is the substitute low end wrangler for Mobile-based punk rock band Future Hate. You can find out more about his work here.