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Isle Of Calm: Stream 6 Hours Of Soothing Music

Julie Byrne on the cover of 2017's <em>Not Even Happiness</em>. Her song "Natural Blue" begins our playlist of soothing music.
Courtesy of Ba Da Bing! Records
Julie Byrne on the cover of 2017's Not Even Happiness. Her song "Natural Blue" begins our playlist of soothing music.

You can stream this playlist via Spotify or Apple Music.

Let's face it: These are anxious times, and many of the comforts, routines and distractions that make daily life easier — sports, church services, musical theater, late-night social gatherings, you name it — are being scaled back or canceled due to fears about the spread of coronavirus. So many of us are feeling the stress of uncertainty and, in many cases, isolation.

NPR Music's staff is no different. So when someone asked us to list the songs we turn to when we need calm, a huge playlist poured out. Encompassing classical, folk, jazz, ambient, pop, blues, soul, hip-hop, indie-rock and more, the block of music we're calling "Isle of Calm" is there to help settle your jangled nerves, slow your heart rate and string up a little hammock for your soul. We hope you enjoy it — there'll be much more to come as we get through these next few weeks together.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)