Patterson's Playlist of Life and Joy: A Sonic Reflection of My Journey

 

The Shuffling Gospel of a Living Playlist

It started with love. Specifically, the love between my friends Jen Elliott and Ken Hollar, who asked me to make a playlist for their wedding celebration. Not the ceremony. The party. The real part. The part where people dance, sweat, sing, cry, flirt, and let go.

So I did what I always do when given a creative task: I overdid it. I poured every instinct, memory, and subversive instinct into the music. And what came out wasn't just a wedding playlist—it was a map of my emotional topography. A sonic blueprint of the way I move through the world. That thing mutated and never stopped growing.

Now, it’s this:
This Is What It Sounds Like Inside My Head
A living playlist. A shifting mixtape. A constantly updated moodboard for the human condition (or at least, my condition).

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It’s Not Just a Playlist—It’s the Greatest Radio Station Never Broadcast

Put it on shuffle. I dare you.

This isn’t some neatly curated genre exercise or a lazy nostalgia trip. It’s a chaotic, beautiful, soul-kicking jukebox from an alternate universe—the kind of bar where the vinyl never skips, the lighting is perfect, and the bartender knows exactly when to play Aretha, Broadcast, or The Hold Steady. It’s eclectic by necessity. Because life is.

No theme. No algorithm. Just feeling.

Hit shuffle and you're dropped into the best radio station you’ve never heard of. No call letters. No commercials. Just real songs for real moments. One minute you're in a dive bar with The Replacements, the next you're floating in a rainstorm with Moses Sumney, then you’re slapping the steering wheel to a bassline that reminds you you’re still alive.

It doesn’t care about the mood you thought you were in. It gives you the one you needed.

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Built on Instinct. Updated With Obsession.

Every few days, I add something. A song that showed up in a TV show and hit me wrong (which meant it hit me right). Something I’d forgotten I loved. A track someone sent me that made me stop whatever I was doing and listen.

This thing evolves because I do.
It isn’t a time capsule. It’s a thermometer.
It isn’t a diary. It’s a mirror.
It isn’t a “vibe.” It’s a damn riot.

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Why Should You Listen?

Maybe you’re tired of fake moods and soulless playlists. Maybe you want to hear what it feels like inside the head of a 50-something, battle-worn, music-obsessed Black man who still believes music can mean something. Or maybe you’re just curious what happens when you throw joy, grief, anger, sex, resistance, yearning, and nostalgia into a blender and press play.

Whatever your reason—just hit shuffle.
It’s free. It’s alive. It’s unfinished.
And it just might remind you who you are.