My Modern Blues and Bluegrass Workout Playlist

Tophouse, Hadestown, Avett Brothers, and Porter's Gate

I work out four to six days a week. Nothing fancy; every day is core day, I alternate leg days and arm days, and once a week I go for a 30-minute run.

from my morning run

I wanted some music to motivate me, but most electronic workout music just doesn’t get me there — yes, the beat can help me get moving, but it isn’t inspiring in the middle of a lateral raise. I desperately want to quit during my lateral raise set.

I wanted to keep the rhythm of electronic music and remove most of the electronics. For a fun workout, I’ll listen to sea shanties or Irish music, for a fun run I’ll listen to some action movie soundtrack, but if I have to dig deep, I whip out this playlist:

(Also on YouTube, if you don’t do Spotify.)

My workouts start out fun and intense, then start to get gentler as I go along. A combination of congenital inflexibility, a lack of crosstraining when I was younger, and three pregnancies, has made me prone to injury, so the middle portion of my workout is breath-led physical therapy exercises that focus on holding different poses, and I end with stretching.

And if you don’t exercise, this is still a phenomenal set of songs for cleaning and working.

The Breakdown

“Ain’t No Man” by The Avett Brothers

This is a fun, upbeat song with a clear rhythm. It gets me into a groove for weight-lifting and captures my early-run euphoria.

Favorite lines:

I'm going to fall hard, yeah I know I am
When the crowds crack up, I laugh with them

“Run” by Tophouse

This was a different sound than most Tophouse songs (see below for their more typical style). DANG, is it on fire, though! It’s a rocking ballad about Cynthia Ann Parker, a pioneer’s daughter who was captured by the Comanches, assimilated into the Comanches, rescued by the Texas Rangers, and then attempted to escape back to the Comanches. The force of the beat gets my workout off to a good start.

Favorite lines:

But just like before, and now once again
She became a captive in a foreign land
So by the dark of the night and the light of the moon
She made a break for the only real family she knew - RUN.

“Wait for Me” from Hadestown

We’re slowing down a bit, but we’re going to dig a bit deeper emotionally. Hadestown is a Broadway retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus, who tries to rescue his bride Euridice from Hades. Orpheus’s naive but heroic chorus of “Wait for me, I’m comin’ with you,” juxtaposes with Hermes’ colorful warnings about how hard it is to get to Hadestown, let alone to get back out. And that bridge! I can dig deep for the final few reps of the intense part of my

Favorite lines:

You're on the lam, you're on the run
Don't give your name, you don't have one
And don't look no one in the eye
This town will try to suck you dry
They'll suck your brain, they'll suck your breath
They'll pluck the heart right out your chest
They'll truss you up in your Sunday best
And stuff your mouth with cotton

“The Mountain Song” by Tophouse

My blood is pumping, and now I’m starting to think that this workout is kind of fun. It boosts my speed if I’m running; it makes a squat feel lighter.

This was the first Tophouse song I ever heard, and I immediately thought, “Oh, it’s like if Mumford & Sons didn’t hate themselves.” Banjo + happiness= Tophouse.

Favorite lines:

It was a long one
There was a time or two we felt like giving up
But every rock and every stumble made us stop and see the wonder
And with your hand in mine, we pushed on to the top

“Chant” from Hadestown

Got cocky and pushed too hard? You gotta keep your head low. This song reminds me of a chain gang more than any of the others. (Context: it’s sung by Hades, Persephone, and the dead of the Underworld, with a little bit of Orpheus’s “la-la-las.”)

Favorite lines:

Looking high and looking low
For the food and firewood I know we need to find
And I am keeping one eye on the sky
And tryin' to trust that the song he's working on
Is gonna shelter us
From the wind, the wind, the wind

“Be Nobody” by Tophouse

Humility doesn’t have to be humiliation. This song is the more upbeat spin on the last. To be honest, I’m usually in my cool-down by now unless it’s a running day. This song is good for dynamic stretches, but it’s lively enough to be useful for longer workouts.

Favorite lines:

My own self-importance is having me for dinner
If I stay here any longer, I’m going to spoil.

Still pretending I’m somebody, I’m somebody
Heaven help me be nobody, be noone at all.

“We Labor Unto Glory” by The Porter’s Gate

This song is a little quieter, a little eerie. It reminds me of what Lewis writes about the “numinous” in The Problem of Pain. God’s glory can feel alien and disquieting to us; when I’m earthly-minded, heaven is not something to set me at ease.

When it comes to the workout, this helps me focus on why I’m doing all of this: not to look good or impress people, but to stay strong and fit for the work set before me.

Favorite lines:

My heart, my hands, they’re kingdom bound — glory.
Where thorns no longer curse the ground — glory.
Trim the wick and light the flame — glory.
My work, it will not be in vain — glory.

“Wait for Me (Reprise)” from Hadestown

If you’re still lifting or running, we continue!

Yes, I have a lot of Hadestown on this list, and yes, this song is the reprise of the earlier one. (My husband is sick of it.) But these lyrics, man!

Hadestown raises the stakes of the Orpheus/Eurydice myth, as if they weren’t high enough. Orpheus fails to lead not only Eurydice but countless souls out of bondage, casting him as a type of failed messiah.

Don’t be like Orpheus. Don’t psych yourself out at this point. You can do this.

Also, for me the emotional core of the entire musical is 100% that couplet of dialogue between Hades and Persephone.

Favorite lines:

The meanest dog you'll ever meet
He ain't the hound dog in the street
He bares some teeth and tears some skin
But brother, that's the worst of him

The dog you really got to dread
Is the one that howls inside your head
It's him whose howling drives men mad
And a mind to its undoing
…

You’ve got a lonesome road to walk,
And it ain't along the railroad track
And it ain't along the black-top tar
You've walked a hundred times before

I'll tell you where the real road lies:
Between your ears, behind your eyes
That is the path to Paradise
Likewise, the road to ruin

“Father, Let Your Kingdom Come” by The Porter’s Gate

Rather than dwell on the heartbreaking end to Hadestown, let’s switch to another fun one. The singers are clearly having a blast, and it helps pick me up out of the intense workout mood and move forward into the rest of the day.

Favorite lines:

In places we don't choose
You make all things new