In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Silas House’s The Tulip Poplars is an unforgettable, moving novel about forbidden love in Appalachia in the early 1900s.
Bookpage wrote of the book:
“Silas House’s The Tulip Poplars is a story of love between people that society says should not love each other . . . . The South, and the rural South in particular, is often flattened in stories. Here, the pain, beauty, danger and community of life in a small Southern town are all on full display. Amos, Tom, Paschal and Maeve find their voices as they fight for what matters―for the land, for their home and for their hearts.”
In his own words, here is Silas House’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel The Tulip Poplars:
Into My Arms – Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer (written by Nick Cave in 1997)
The novel takes place from 1918 to 1976 so this song came out long after that (this version in 2017) but it was the foundational song for my writing of this novel. I played it every single time I sat down to write and it helped to put me in the mindframe I needed to write a love story, which is the main way I thought of this novel from its beginning. It’s a perfect love song because it is so incredibly romantic and full of love but never strays into sentimentality. And the way it folds in religion also serves this book as well. Besides all of that, the vocal delivery from sisters Allison Moorer and Shelby Lynne is absolutely transcendent, as is the production by Teddy Thompson.
Little Darling Pal of Mine – Lucinda Williams
This song works for a gay romance because no pronouns are used for the person being sung to. Amos sings it at a gathering early on in the novel and he could have easily been singing it to Tom without anyone knowing. Although it’s using “pal” to suggest a friendship the romance in it is clear. The Carter Family’s version is perhaps the best known but I’m partial to Lucinda Williams’ version.
Be Thou My Vision – Choir of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh
The Episcopal church is important throughout this book so I listened to a lot of choirs singing classic hymns while writing those scenes. There’s something transportive about the vocals that put me in those scenes in a dreamlike way, so I hope that happens for the readers who listen to these songs as well.
You’ll Miss Lots of Fun When You’re Married – John Philip Sousa, Paul Sperry, and Irma Vallecillo
I did a lot of research on music of the 1920s, especially songs that might have been sung in speakeasies and in gay gathering places. This was one of the more popular ones and it certainly applies to both Tom and Maeve’s situations since they are thrust into a marriage unexpectedly and not totally by choice. Plus, it’s fun to listen to and really helped me to enter the spaces of the night clubs of New York City during the time period.
I’m Always Chasing Rainbows – Charles Harrison
This song also helped me to get into the New York City scenes easily. Today many of associate rainbow imagery with the LGBTQ rights movement and Pride efforts and the lyrics of this song work perfectly with some pivotal scenes in the novel.
My Buddy – Henry Burr
This is a famous song that has so much gay innuendo in it that I’m convinced that the writer meant it as a gay romance, so I had to use it. The use of the term “my buddy” is just so coded and unusual for a romantic song, and even if it wasn’t intended that way it certainly works for this book. So many gay couples at the time had to pretend to be “just friends” or “roommates”.
Cielito Lindo – Los Panchos
I wanted this to be a novel that shows rural America in a different way. I think readers expect that the rural South, and particularly Appalachia, is a place populated solely by poor white folks but in this novel there are people of color and immigrants because that is true of the place during this time period. One of the groups that brought influential music into the region during this time were Mexican laborers who came to work in the vegetable and tobacco fields at the time as part of the Braceros program. I love the scenes with these workers, especially when they gather at night to play the homesick music of their homeland.
Gymnopédie No. 1 – Erik Satie, Phillippe Entremont
I think of this as the love score of this novel, and I played it repeatedly while writing it. There are few pieces of music that are more romantic. Since the piano is a central image from the very beginning of the novel it works well to have this piano-based score as a central theme of the book. One of my favorite scenes in the book shows Tom being so heartbroken by listening to this song that his wife realizes he is in love with someone else—the person who bought him the record. I loved writing that scene and certainly listened to the song dozens of times while doing so.
Just One Look – Doris Troy
The book covers a long period of time—more than sixty years—so as we get toward the end of the novel I am able to bring in songs from the fifties, sixties, and even early seventies. This is one I thought worked well for a scene where the lead characters are visiting a gay bar for the first time. It’s another romantic song that feels upbeat and very much of the time period, so it enables me as the writer and others as the readers to easily travel to that time.
All My Trials – Peter, Paul and Mary
This is a novel about two couples whose love is legislated. Their romances are illegal in the time and places where they live. Neither of them are able to marry for most of the time the book covers. They face incredible obstacles and dangers to be together. They know that their love could lead to them being killed. I find this song so moving and it made me think a lot about what these couples have to overcome just to be who they are. It shows up late in the book but is nonetheless epitomizing of the theme throughout.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Silas House’s music playlist for his poetry collection All These Ghosts
Silas House’s playlist for his novel Southernmost
Silas House is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels and one book of creative nonfiction. His latest book is Southernmost (June 2018), which has been long listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was a top ten Southern bestseller and in July 2020 his first three books were reissued with new supplemental material, including new forewords, author notes, and a family tree.