Previously, the playlists I have publicly shared — see Famous Bands That Sang About Kansas City, Begrudgingly Acknowledged Country Bangers, and Taylor Swift & Drake: 12 Bangers Each — were fun respites from the usual dark articles on politics, racism, religion, history, and so on. But having recently found some small solace in music from the horrors of Trumpian extremism and authoritarianism, I thought I would offer a political playlist in the hopes it might help others as well.

The collected songs are simply a few that have moved me in these times. (Countless potential pieces and artists are absent, from “We Shall Overcome” and “Mississippi Goddam” to Rage Against the Machine and Edwin Starr.) They are mostly expected songs from the twentieth century’s political folk tradition. Of all genres, nothing soothes the soul like folk — though sometimes it haunts it. I like the idea of in some small way drawing more attention to names like Guthrie, Seeger, Ochs, and, though perhaps less necessary, Dylan. (Happily, three of these artists were recently characterized in the agreeable film A Complete Unknown.) More importantly, the ages, people, and events of which they sing, which I am also pleased to direct more attention to — John Brown and Ludlow and Medgar Evers, the struggles of miners and abolitionists and blacks and peace activists — remind one that horrors, even those far worse than anything we face today, can be resisted and overcome. Horrors end. With, of course, proper ways of thinking and acting: empathetic, solidaristic, courageous, leftwing, revolutionary.

I hope these 13 songs inspire and lift your spirits, as they have mine. And stir tears, as they have in me.

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