Novel playlist

Musician Joe Pernice on the playlist for his new novel It Feels So Good When I Stop. (NY Times)

For the past 15 years I’ve made my living as a songwriter and recording artist. Before you nod your head in admiration, know this: That living was at times a meager one, as in, “Let’s go on a six-week tour of indifferent, tertiary markets because I could really use the per diem and sporadic backstage chips and salsa.” Not a joke. Countless times my dear friend and guitarist James Walbourne and I — in situations like waiting in line to use a backed-up urinal somewhere in Ireland — have flung the following in the face of the other: “It’s the life we’ve chosen. It’s the life that’s chosen us.”