The Structure of a PROJECT M Harvest Playlist.
Rudolf Steiner, the polymath and founder of Biodynamic Agriculture, once said, "Architecture is music come to rest." At PROJECT M, we believe that Wine is an intermediate step in this process.
We love music and consider the Harvest Playlist an indispensable winemaking tool. In this post, we discuss the structure of our Harvest Playlists and provide a link so you can follow along.
“Because Harvest can feel like 90 Mondays in a row, the Playlist has to include a lot of unfamiliar and unique takes on the familiar”
At PROJECT M, the Harvest Playlist serves many functions. The most fundamental is to provide Winemaker Jerry D. Murray with a river of rhythm to carry him through the long days and weeks of Harvest. The music must enter his body and keep him moving. Driving and relentless beat are needed to accomplish this crucial task. In PROJECT M's 2024 Harvest Playlist, there is an emphasis on live performances to capitalize on that energy. Examples include:
The J. Geils Band's live version of the Supremes Where Did Our Love Go?
Etta James's Something's Gotta Hold on Me from Etta James Rocks the House.
Ramblin Gamblin Man (Live) by Bob Segar.
Each year, one selection on the Playlist nominates itself as a meditation to start the day. In 2023 it was Dylan Thomas reciting his poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. In 2024, the ritualistic start of the day is Colors by Black Pumas as I look north across the field next to the winery, contemplating the things I am grateful for.
I love Bob Dylan. To keep the Harvest Playlist fresh and novel, I include several versions of his songs covered by other artists. The 2024 Harvest Playlist contains two versions of You Ain't Going Nowhere: one by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and another live jam featuring Adam Duritz, Cracker, and Joan Osborne.
I like wines that are elegant and feminine. My harvest playlists always include sonic representations of these qualities. Songs like:
Lonely Sinking Feeling by the Cowboy Junkies
The Dreaming Dead by Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
Imelda May's How Bad Can A Good Girl Be
Keep these qualities in my hazy mind.
The theme for the 2024 vintage is Beautiful Things, and a few songs keep me focused on that idea. Among them are Pieta Brown's rendition of Another Place in Time, Leave the City by Jason Molina's Magnolia Electric Company, Ryan Adam's To Be the One, and Texas Sun by Khruangbin & Leon Bridges.
One can't be at the mercy of the season for ten weeks and not hit some rough spots. There are times when the workload seems impossible, rising above you like a mountain whose peak is obscured by clouds. At those times, you can't shrink from the responsibility and challenge. You need to look straight ahead and go. In those moments, you need songs that inspire the fight. Selections like Rage Against the Machine covering Maggie's Farm, Show Me How to Live by Audioslave, and Social Distortion's Ball and Chain help cut the shit and get to it.
At the end of Harvest, I don't want to feel like I could have given any more. I want to use it up. This can make me tired. Physically. Mentally. And most of all, Spiritually. You start to doubt yourself and the reason you are doing this work. The only thing that gets me through times like that are others singing about struggle and meaning it. No musician "means it" more than Gospel Musicians. Every Playlist has a few Gospel-tinged tunes to lift the spirit. Aretha Franklin singing The Old Landmark at The New Temple Mission Baptist Church could make the infirm walk and the blind see. The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago from Johnny Cash at San Quentin, especially Carl Perkin's verse, and Mavis Staples and Levon Helm doing You Gotta Move raises even the most worn spirit.
Because Harvest can feel like 90 Mondays in a row, the Playlist has to include a lot of unfamiliar and unique takes on the familiar. From The Lost Notebooks, a collection of covers of Hank Williams tunes is I Hope You Shed A Million Tears, performed by Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway delivers a trippy Flamenco/Bluegrass version of the Jefferson Airplane classic White Rabbit. Mulehead covers Gram Parson's In My Hour Of Darkness. Kendra Morris's cover of Pink Floyd's Shine on You Crazy Diamond is both surprising and comforting.
You can listen along to PROJECT M'S "Vintage 2024" Playlist on Spotify.