One key place for music discovery for several thousand people in the 90s was the overhead music played in the store and on the PA between bands at True Tunes. People would actually call the store and ask to just have us hold the phone up and let them hear whatever was playing on the speakers in the store because they knew it would be cool. Back then it was a stash of CDs, cassettes, and records kept behind the front counter. And yes, we took requests.

Once the Gallery Stage at Cornerstone was in full flower we made sure to curate the music between bands there just as thoughtfully as we did the music at the store and the Upstairs at True Tunes venue. Each year we would bring burned CDRs that combined brand new tracks with classics from the past and would play them between bands at both the Gallery Stage and the Main Stage. It was always an eclectic mix and it was always fun when someone found us walking around the festival grounds and said “Hey – I heard that mix, what was that creepy banjo goth track that sounded like it came from a haunted carnival? That was awesome!”

So, in that tradition, we launched a special Spotify playlist called the True Tunes Gallery Stage Mixtape that is updated every week. The tracks include both artists that were favorites on the stage we loved to sponsor and host at the world’s coolest festival, and artists that we WISH would have played the festival, and artists that we know WOULD HAVE been playing the festival this year if it was still around. It’s a blend of musical comfort food and new cuisine – a way to re-live some favorites and discover some amazing brand new music.

All you need to do is CLICK HERE – and then click FOLLOW and the playlist will stay parked on your Spotify browser. It will automatically update each week (usually on Wednesdays) with a new stack of songs. Listen at work, or while you drive or work out. Just listen!

And if you want to go REALLY nuts, each week we dump all of the songs from the previous week into a massive playlist we call the True Tunes Playlist Archives. That list is over 1,200 songs and counting! That’s 83 hours of music without repeating a single song! Listen while you drive from Chicago to Los Angeles and back! Listen while you work all week and never hear a repeat.

When you hear something you love, add it to your own personal favorites list. Follow that artist. Go see them when they play in your town. Buy their music. Buy their T-shirts. Tell them you discovered them on the True Tunes Playlist.

And spread the word! The more of us that follow this list, and listen to it, the more we can collectively move the needle for these artists. We know that this streaming era is not ideal for artists and songwriters economically. Streams pay fractions of pennies. But – if you can discover new artists, or rediscover artists you used to listen to all the time, and then find other ways to support them, we can make this paradigm work.

So listen, follow, like, spread the word. Thanks!