2003-2004 Playlist

source: JasonMraz.com

By 2004, I very definitely had one foot in Top 40 music and one in acoustic/folk, singer-songwriterly music. I spent most of my time playing Jason Mraz, John Mayer, and Jack Johnson on repeat and wishing I was in California instead of the Northeast (don't worry, I won't subject you to my actual 2003-2004 soundtrack). Most everything else that entered my Cone of Beachy Angst seeped through via television and films.

And (this is a little difficult to admit) Michelle Branch's "Hotel Paper" was, for at least a few months, my crutch for the transition from high school to college. For leaving behind a certain someone I was convinced I would never get over. I don't know what it was about these songs (and "Goodbye To You" from her previous album), released just before I graduated from high school, that "spoke" to what I was going through. Oddly enough, Michelle did a big concert at my college the next spring. That helped me close the book on my past a little.