Episode 16: Music, Mortality & The Avett Brothers with Tim Mossberger

11/03/18 • 80 min

About a month ago, I sat down with my friend Tim Mossberger in Champaign, Illinois to talk about our mutual favorite band, The Avett Brothers, and a bunch of their songs that deal with topics related to mortality.

Tim has a website called As My Life Turns to a Song – The Avett Brothers Archive. He has been methodically collecting and documenting the history of the band, and together with Paul Oehler has created an Avett setlist database that is as comprehensive as possible. And with me, Tim has created Tales of Avett News, a blog where we publish concert reviews, interviews with Avett fans and people connected with the band, and other content of interest to Avett fans.

In this episode, Tim and I discuss a number of Avett Brothers songs that deal with various aspects of mortality including:

The Fall

Talk on Indolence

The Lowering

Die Die Die

Another Youngster

Am I Born to Die (cover)

Live and Die

Life

Through My Prayers

Once and Future Carpenter

Morning Song

Murder in the City

No Hard Feelings

In this episode, Tim and I discuss a number of Avett Brothers songs that deal with various aspects of mortality including:

The Fall

Talk on Indolence

The Lowering

Die Die Die

Another Youngster

Am I Born to Die (cover)

Live and Die

Life

Through My Prayers

Once and Future Carpenter

Morning Song

Murder in the City

No Hard Feelings

Previous Episode

Episode 15: Death Related Holidays with Tyler Cunningham

Death is celebrated all over the world on annual basis. More than 175 million Americans will celebrate Halloween this year, with total spending in 2018 reaching $9 billion, with the average consumer planning to spend $86.79 on decorations, candy, costumes and more. While celebrated on a mass scale, most Americans likely do not know the history behind Halloween and how it has turned into a billion-dollar industry.

Another major death related holiday that is often associated with Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, is actually its own unique holiday, where families spend even more than the average American consumer, as anywhere from two weeks to two months wages are spent on average honoring the dead.

Today's podcast will discuss the history and current trends of Halloween and Dias de los Muertos, as well as take a deeper look into some other interesting death related holidays from around the world that our listeners may be less familiar with.

Next Episode

Episode 17: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on Burial Practices (with Jordan Artrip)

The Protestant Reformation of the early 16th century changed countless aspects of everyday life for every kind of person across Europe. One of the things most profoundly affected was the popular conception of death. On this episode, I will be speaking with third year Wake Forest University Law School student Jordan Artrip about how the theology of the Reformation caused a paradigm shift for how death and the dead were viewed by society, as well as the practical effects of that shift on life and religious practice.

Topics addressed in episode:

For everyday people living during Christendom, one’s view of death and the dead was inextricably linked to the teaching of whichever church was dominant in their particular time and region. How did the theology of the Medieval Church shape peoples’ view of death and the dead on the eve of the Reformation?
How did this belief in purgatory and the efficacy of intercessional prayer manifest itself in the practices of the Church regarding the dead?
How did changes brought by the Reformation impact the level of memorialization that we see today in churches?
How did changes in theology impact local burial practices?
How did practices change in areas of Europe where the Catholic Church remained dominant?
What impact did the Reformation and related changes in burial practices in Christian Europe have on the development of the law and social norms in the United States?