The “Soundtrack” For Two Civil Wars

Music I enjoyed while writing Two Civil Wars.

The story takes place in more locations than most thrillers, which made creating the settings challenging. One advantage I had was that I’ve traveled extensively in the American south, across Mexico, and my home, Alaska. Music is a tool I use to tie characters into the settings, and really helped me stay in character and on location.

My music choices range across the board from classical to folk, to rock and especially to New Age and meditation instrumentals. From decades of music, I found three different albums that set the mood for Two Civil Wars.

For the American Civil War section, album called Songs of the Civil War was a great tool. It is a collection of music from a wide range of artists; contemporary and traditional songs which captured the mood of the early days of the period. You might recognize the first song on the album, Ashokan Farewell, which was the theme song for the Ken Burns PBS documentary The Civil War.

For the Alaskan and sea voyage period, I rumbled through a half dozen new age and nature-based albums. One that stands out is The Sacred Well, by the band, 2002. 

For the book that is set in Mexico, I must admit that I allowed traditional Mexican folk to run in my head. With that said, one album, Linda Ronstadt’s Canciones de Mi Padre somehow got into the playlist almost every day.