In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Patricia Henley’s collection Apple & Palm is filled with stories both moving and wise.
Booklist wrote of the book:
“Stirring . . . Henley’s tales remain finely attuned to the characters’ discomforts, desires, and moments of revelation amidst social expectations.”
In her own words, here is Patricia Henley’s Book Notes music playlist for her story collection Apple & Palm:
I read Brenda Euland’s book If You Want to Write in the late eighties when there weren’t many books on the writing process. It was first published in the United States in 1938. Graywolf later re-issued it. My big takeaway at the time was this: Seek out wordless recreation. How easy that was in the late eighties. I stopped listening to music with lyrics while writing. I envy writers who are able to withstand the onslaught of lyrics while writing. But I make up for it when my writing sessions are finished. I have to get up and move, and, if the weather is too inclement for walking, I often dance.
Amazon Music informed me yesterday that my favorite music in 2025 was by Pistol Annies. Miranda Lambert and I might have made quite a team back in the day when I still drank tequila, smoked roll-your-own cigarettes, and danced with strangers. Maybe she gives that back to me, a time in my life when I stupidly loved the rawness of making mistakes and testing boundaries.
A battle was sometimes in progress. Do I do what’s right or what might feel good? Sort of like the protagonist (do songs have protagonists?) in Gillian Welch’s “Look at Miss Ohio.”
Similar battles ensue for some of the characters in my new collection of stories, Apple & Palm. Here’s the inspirational playlist for this book.
“At Last” by Etta James
This ballad is so pure-hearted. It’s a good reminder of the brain chemistry that ensues when you fall in love. The singer doesn’t have doubts. Her voice is warm and as smooth as butter. It’s a comfort to me as I explore The Argument some of my women characters are having with themselves. The Argument is often about attachment versus heartache.
“Desperado” by The Eagles
Oh, this was the anthem of some of my characters back in the day. It still sends me into a swoon of regret. I aim to stay aware of the regrets of my characters and how the past informs the present. This could be Sally’s theme song in “Sally’s Tangent.” She gives up wanting the things that she can’t have. She leaves both of the men in her life, moves to New Orleans, wears androgynous clothes, and eschews the attention of men.
“Big-Boned Gal” by K.D. Lang
This song makes me think of times when I was overweight (whatever that means) as a girl and people would say, “Oh, she’s just big-boned.” It’s a body-positive song released in 2001 before we really talked about body-positivity much. We were still weighing ourselves every day and getting perms and free makeovers at Macy’s. The big-boned gal in the song just goes for it, without inhibition. She’s not ashamed of the body she was born with. She holds the other dancers in a trance. This song reminds me of my character Maddy who lost her front teeth as a girl and my character Harper who is disfigured from a car accident. It’s a foot-stomper. My crush on K.D. Lang washes over me. Every time. But life isn’t so easy for Maddy and Harper.
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” covered by Joan Baez
What a melancholy tune. This is another one of those youthful anthems. There’s a hardness I cultivated in my younger days. Sally in “Sally’s Tangent” pulls the cloak of toughness around her. I can imagine her listening to this on repeat.
“Non, je ne regrette rien” by Edith Piaf
The full-throated voice of Edith Piaf blossoms from an open window at Tansy Art Dispensary, a women’s art collective in Whistle Pig, the town where most of the stories in Apple & Palm are set. The women welcome Harper, but Harper can’t see giving in to their invitation. Accepting their invitation would surrender her autonomy. I love this song for the way it brings back memories I don’t have the right to dwell on for long. It was popular before I was born. For the length of the song I have the golden chance to inhabit a different era.
“Got My Name Changed Back” by Pistol Annies
This paean to divorce is so sassy. It makes me want to dance. The lyrics contain no regrets, an attitude I adopt as a self-protective device now and then. I imagine Claire in “Smorgasbord” needs a song like this to assist her with all the labor involved in giving birth to herself after marriage.
“I’ll Be Seeing You” by Norah Jones
This is a heartbreaker. It’s an honest song about separation and longing, published in 1938. The lyrics must be embedded in the hearts and minds of all who listened to popular music in the 20th century. It was popular during the WWII era, and it’s been covered by many artists, including Frank Sinatra, Cat Power, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Brenda Lee, Norah Jones, Tony Bennett. Take your pick the next time you need a poignant love song. In Apple & Palm, this has to be Roxy’s anthem in the story “Currency.” She’s over 100 years old. She had her heart truly broken at the end of WW II. She lost her country of birth, the freedom she felt among women while serving in the military, her mother, who cut off contact with her when she discovered that Roxy was to be an unwed mother, and her one true love.
“Members Only” by Bobby Blue Bland
I fell in love with this song when Abdul Rashid sang it at The Subway Lounge toward the end of the blues documentary “Last of the Mississippi Jukes.” Since then I turn to Bobby Blue Bland videos on YouTube and watch him perform it at different stages of his life. He was still capable of that signature growl when he was in his seventies. It’s an inclusive song: we’ve all been broken by love or lack of love. It’s the sort of song that motivates my character GT in “Pivot” to open a music club in a small town in Appalachia. He’s lost his partner, his infant son, his Chicago home. This song eases the scales from his eyes; he sees what he’s gained.
PATRICIA HENLEY is the author of three novels, five collections of stories, two chapbooks of poetry, and a stage play. Her first novel, Hummingbird House, was a finalist for the National Book Award and The New Yorker Fiction Prize. Her short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and other journals. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and other anthologies. Her new collection of stories, Apple & Palm, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press in March 2026. She taught in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Purdue University for 26 years. She lives in Kingston, Washington. Learn more at patriciahenleyauthor.com