The Nightlife was originally conceived as a template for a midnight, three hour radio show. I tried to envision myself at a radio station on a Saturday night, pulling records off of the infinite shelves of Spotify. But because I wasn’t talking between the songs, at times I felt like I was back at the old tape deck, making a mix tape for a friend. Now I’ve got this box of mix tapes, and I wish I’d labeled them better. But if you’re going somewhere, or cleaning the house, and you wanted to hear a few of my favorite tunes and artists, The Nightlife is here for you.

Episode 20 / Episode 19

Episode 18 / Episode 17

Episode 16 / Episode 15

Episode 14 / Episode 13

Episode 12 / Episode 11

Episode 10 / Episode 9

Episode 8 / Episode 7

Episode 6 / Episode 5

Episode 4 / Episode 3

Episode 2 / Episode 1

Nickolas Ashford (born May 4, 1942, in Fairfield, South Carolina) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946 in The Bronx, New York) are a successful husband and wife songwriting/production team, as well as being recording artists in their own right. This performing and songwriting team met in the choir of Harlem’s White Rock Baptist Church.

“Lets Go Get Stoned”
Words & Music by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, & Josephine Armstead
Performed by Joe Cocker

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”
Words & Music by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
Performed by Diana Ross

“Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”
Words & Music by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
Performed by The Jackson 5

“Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”
Words & Music by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
Performed by Aretha Franklin

“You’re All I Need/I’ll Be There for You”
Words & Music by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
Performed by Mary J. Blige & Method Man

“Solid”
Words & Music by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
Performed by Ashford & Simpson

Cindy Walker, (July 20, 1918 – March 23, 2006) was an American singer/songwriter and dancer. Born in Mart, Texas, Walker wrote a great many hit songs for a number of country music stars such as Bob Wills, Eddy Arnold, and Carl Smith. In 2006 American music icon Willie Nelson released a CD album featuring 13 of Walker’s well-known songs. The album title is You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker.

“You Don’t Know Me” performed by Willie Nelson
Words and Music by Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold

“I Don’t Care” performed by Webb Pierce
Words and Music by Cindy Walker and Webb Pierce

“Cherokee Maiden” performed by Merle Haggard
Words and Music by Cindy Walker

“Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream?)” performed by Roy Orbison
Words and Music by Cindy Walker

“Jingle Bells”, also known as “One Horse Open Sleigh”, is one of the best known and commonly sung secular Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and copyrighted under the title ‘One Horse Open Sleigh’ on September 16, 1857. The song has been translated into many languages. The Singing Dogs version was originally created by Danish recording engineer Carl Weissmann who discovered, while editing the sounds of barking dogs out of birdsong recordings, that perhaps dogs can sing as well.. Awesome guitar solo added later, in the United States.

Jingle Bells performed by the Singing Dogs
Words and Music by James Lord Pierpont

The Nightlife is a weekly playlist based on what I think it’d sound like if I had a free-form midnight radio show. I look at this like I’ve rolled into the radio station to have the best time of my life playing great records in sequence and hearing the beautiful stories they tell each other across time. Another way to think of it, is like I just sent you two 90 minute mixtapes in the mail. And of course you don’t have to listen at midnight. You can listen anytime.

As I understand it, Spotify Premium members can listen to these shows complete and in order, whereas Spotify Free users can listen to a shuffled version of each playlist with added commercials and missing the songs only allocated for premium members.

The Nightlife: Episode 1 – 10/5/19

The Nightlife: Episode 2 – 10/12/19

The Nightlife: Episode 3 – 10/19/19

The Nightlife: Episode 4 – 10/26/19

The Nightlife: Episode 5 – 11/4/19