Great game.

Inspired by Johnmarrow's reply here. I had one thought,

What music do you listen to both during game prep (as in town generation) and is it different from game play?

I propose that there is a great difference between a game prepared with Willy Nelson on the road again and one where Tool had prison sex in the background.

What does music give you in respect to Dogs, and IMO more interestingly how does it colour your game?

K

I have not yet prepped for Dogs. I am the designated Dogs driver for our group, so it will happen eventually.

In thinking about what I would listen to, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot immediately comes to mind. The mournful, slightly disconnected music, the dark quality of some of the lyrics (all my lies are always wishes), the odd combination of words that stick in the head (I assasin down the avenue), and the subtle changes of repeated lyrics (his/my fangs have been pulled) all suit the mood I want to portray in my first town.

Julie

During prep I listened to my old vinyl copy of the soundtrack to Paris, Texas. It's mostly Ry Cooder's slide guitar and it's dryer than the entire Utah desert.

I also had a couple of Tom Waits albums at the ready: Swordfishtrombones, Frank's Wild Years and Mule Variations.

At the moment I am playing in my kitchen, which only has a radio, so no music there. If I had a choice I would play the Dead Man soundtrack, soundtrack to Last Man Standing and even some Morricone.

Yes, I prefer movie soundtracks when playing :)

Per

I've been getting a lot out of the Drive-By Truckers and the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in Mexico ... of course, I haven't been able to play yet, but I think they work well for setting the stage.

Prepping and playing the IRC game, I was listening mostly to The Word (Robert Randolph, John Medeski, and the North Mississippi All-Stars), which is a jazz-rock ensemble based on "sacred steel," gospel music done with a pedal steel guitar. They have great songs like "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning." And then, when that ran out, it was all Bad Religion, especially "The Empire Strikes First"...

One CD that I get a lot of use out of is named, accurately, NOTHING BUT WIND. I took several longish sound effects cuts and faded them together over and over.

As low-level background sound it is wonderfully evocative and non-intrusive. You can use it for almost any occasion and it adds a vaguely creepy vibe.

The Library of Congress American Memory collection totally rocks:

Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hrhtml/afcreedrecoindex.html

Omaha Indian Music
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/omhhtml/omhhome.html

Northern California Folk Music
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html

Tons of songs in MP3 format. Some have spoken introductions that might require editing. Some religious choral arrangements in the California collection.

--Jason

My Dogs soundtrack is in the book, of course. But let me just again plug Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer.

-Vincent

Mavis Staples new album is rockin' music to Dog to. A little on the bluesy side for the timeframe, but hey, it's Mavis Staples, and that's always good.

James

I'm in the process of developing my first town, and I'm currently looking to the lyrics of the various murder ballads, etc in my music collection for inspiration.

The shortlist at present consists of:
- Ruby Jewel Was Here (Allison Moorer)
- Ode To Billy Joe (Bobbie Gentry)
- And A God Descended (Dar Williams)
- Caleb Meyer (Gillian Welch)

I'm hoping that the towns so developed are far enough removed from their source material that my players don't recognise their origins, but they're a handy starting point to have.