a soundtrack to Jess Gibson's The Good Eye
my spouse published a book of short stories & all she got from me was this playlist
This is a mixtape delivery service. I’ve prepared this welcome page to explain what it’s all about. If you find joy or inspiration in what’s shared here, I’d be delighted by your paid subscription.
# of Tracks: about two dozen
Length: under 120 minutes
Themes: rats, ghosts & death ~ multiple songs by Lene Lovich and Nico ~ the narrow gap between a long con and a supernatural encounter ~ witchy-fun female vocalists (Mary Margaret O’Hara, Aldous Harding, Slapp Happy’s Dagmar Krause, Kate Bush, The Knife’s Karin Dreijer, Water from Your Eyes’s Rachel Brown) ~ interiority as celebration ~ witchy-serious-as-your-life female vocalists (L’Rain’s Taja Cheek, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell) ~ a seance you can dance at
Links: Apple Music | YouTube | Spotify | QoBuz
Earlier this month, my spouse Jess Gibson published her first book, The Good Eye, a collection of short stories.
As a matter of personal preference, I’m a fact-based person. But fiction presents a narrow exception to that rule: a good story contains imagined facts that bring us closer to actual truth.
I read some of these stories in nascent form when Jess and I first met, more than a decade ago. Even then, they made clear that she had command of a few essentials we all need to muddle through existence: quirky humor, an eye for the sensual details that make real life richer than digital experience, and a finely tuned bullshit detector for navigating the ego traps and outright schemes our fellow humans throw at us.
What are these stories about? Con men (and sometimes women). People who misperceive the world—or themselves—or try to reshape reality to fit an overriding vision. Art as power. Sex as escape. Architecture as a way of shaping the world with either openness or a well-manicured claustrophobia. Food as solace and menace. Psychic truths as explanations for things we can never fully understand.
When Jess and I decided to collaborate on a playlist inspired by the book’s themes, she suggested “a mixtape about rats, ghosts, and death?”
I said yes—while also trying to match the book’s vibe as closely as I could manage: spooky but playful, sensual but complicated, polished on the surface but messy and all-too-human if you crack open the façade.
More info and ordering details at jessgibson.ca — and there is an Instagram account. There are some pictures of books and textiles on there—an implicit critique, perhaps, of spending time on social media platforms in the first place.
Find the playlist on… Apple Music | YouTube | Spotify | QoBuz
The playlist includes songs such as…
^ Aldous Harding: “The Barrel”
^ Nina Simone: “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (1968 live version)
^ Lene Lovich: “Telepathy”
^ The Walkmen: “The Rat”
Bonus:
• Ordering info: Earlier this month The Good Eye was published in the US (Cardinal Publishing), Canada (Knopf), and the United Kingdom (Jonathan Cape). Last week a German translation arrived (Blessing). Visit JessGibson.ca for all the details on the book in one place, or click the publisher’s names for regional ordering information. For those who prefer to listen, Jess narrated the audiobook herself, now available on Audible, Spotify, Kobo, Apple Books, and other platforms.
All editions sport pretty killer cover art.
• Read an excerpt in Electric Literature: If you want a taste, the site Electric Literature ran the story “Wild Food”1 a few days before The Good Eye’s publication date, with an introduction by Molly McGhee, author of Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind and host of the Brooklyn launch event. As Molly put it:
Lovers of interiority, may I humbly present to you the work of Jess Gibson?
Devouring and being devoured . . . consuming and being consumed . . . one of the pleasures of Gibson’s work is its suggestion that observation fundamentally changes the nature of that which is observed. Likewise, that which is observed fundamentally changes the observer.
• Wednesday, June 3 in Bedstuy, Brooklyn: After May launch events in Jess’s hometowns, Toronto and Brooklyn, a more low-key hang with novelist Reena Shah is happening this week. - map | website | Instagram
People Who Died: Alexander Kluge • David Allen Coe • Elaine Ingham • James Gadson • Seymour Bernstein • Sonny Rollins • Stephanie Chernikowski • Wayne Moss
This month’s list of people who died includes folks who elevated music in supporting roles (Stephane Chernikowski, James Gadson, Wayne Moss), uncategorizable polymaths (Alexander Kluge, Elaine Ingham), and idiosyncratic frontmen (Sonny Rollins and David Allan Coe—the latter also merits the label “problematic”2).
I want to footnote Wayne Moss3 so I can share a selection of recordings he was involved with—an iconic list including some of the best recordings by Dolly Parton and Roy Orbison. When creating these link round-ups, I try not to rely too much on a single source, but The New York Times obit for Moss was excellent (and is not linked to above).
Drummer James Gadson, a king of the funk and disco backbeat, deserves an equally detailed deep dive. However, there are others more qualified than I to speak to his legacy, so visit Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Instagram tribute, which includes an extensive list of Gadson’s credits, from the Jackson 5 and Bill Withers to Beck and D’Angelo. As Thompson wrote: “Some drummers are soulful. Some drummers are funky. Some drummers are rockin. Some drummers are swinging—but NO drummer has impacted the art of the breakbeat (danceable drums) like James Gadson.” This fan-made YouTube playlist won’t do you wrong either.
More spooky music on AHB’s Goodies
in-between then woke up new (2024)
the music of David Lynch’s world (2025)
wordless vocals & music before language (2023)
The “want a taste” / “Wild Food” pun was unintentional—although, in hindsight, eating does play an outsized role in the book.
The current top 10 on David Allan Coe’s Spotify profile include numerous titles that lean into his persona (“D-R-U-N-K,” “Longhaired Redneck,” “Need a Little Time Off for Bad Behavior,” “Jack Daniel’s, If You Please”), while avoiding the darkest, most offensive corners of his discography. At the same time, his songwriting could also be unexpectedly poignant. For example, consider this underheard cover of Coe’s song “In My Mind” by indie/Americana stalwart Will Oldham (aka Palace Brothers, Bonnie “Prince” Billy).
For a deeper view of this talented, complicated, awful man, I’d suggest watching the posthumous reaction video to DAC’s death from his estranged son, Tyler Mahan Coe. (At one point in this remembrance, he utters the words “as a fan, aside from [my father] being an actually insane individual…”) Coupled with Tyler’s own work—as an accomplished preservationist of country music lore through his Cocaine & Rhinestones podcast—he offers another reminder of the truism: that a life in music is hard to resist, but it ain’t easy.
Wayne Moss was a key part of Tennessee’s session-musician scene from the early 1960s onward, sometimes associated with the later years of “The Nashville A-Team.” He had a long career as a guitarist, bassist, and recording engineer, including co-founding the influential independent studio Cinderella Sound. Here’s a round-up of some of his most iconic tracks. All dates in the videos below refer to recording rather than release dates.
Tommy Roe: “Sheila” (1962 version) ⌄
Roy Orbison: “Oh, Pretty Woman” (1964) ⌄
Bob Dylan: “I Want You” (1966) ⌄
Dolly Parton: “Jolene” (1973) ⌄
Enjoyed the playlist - some great tracks
Great mixtape, fantastic.