Music has been the backbone of my family for as long as I can remember. My mother was a music major in college, and she starred in musicals both before and after I was born. Some of my earliest memories are filled with music—at home, in the car, at church, by the pool. There’s even a tape recording of five-year-old me, banging away on an improvised drum set and singing what I think was “Down on the Corner” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
I nearly changed my own major to music in college because it felt like such a natural part of who I am. And truthfully, I don’t remember a time in my life when music wasn’t present. Nietzsche once said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” Jane Austen echoed the same thought: “Without music, life would be a blank to me.” Both ring true in my own experience—I need a soundtrack to my life.
That soundtrack shifts by the day. Yesterday was a rotation of the biggest hits of 1981. Today, it’s Earl Klugh’s smooth guitar instrumentals. Tomorrow? Who knows. But I can promise you there will be music in it.
Without music, I’d still have family, teaching, writing, and bourbon. But all of it would be missing the heartbeat. Life would feel less connected, less alive—a blank.
Copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.
