The “Your Mental Health Soundtrack” will debut next month on Spotify, says creator and host Karl Shallowhorn.
Those soundtracks can remind you of how you overcame past challenges, and encourage you to find the strength and courage to persevere with the ones you face now, he said.
Shallowhorn learned to accept and adapt to bipolar disorder while a student at SUNY Buffalo State from 1984 to 1987. Music helped. He was a DJ during that time at the college radio station, WBNY 91.3-FM, as well as Rude Boys in North Buffalo.
He found meaningful songs in reggae, hip-hop and traditional country, as well as classic and alternative rock.
“Because the music was so powerful, it got me through college. It was the one thing that kept me engaged and kept me coming back,” Shallowhorn said. He named his radio show “The Passion Playhouse,” a bow to the Jethro Tull album, “Passion Play.”
Shallowhorn said rapper Kendrick Lamar is among artists who brought meaning to the Black Lives Matter movement in recent months. He also shared a few songs that have helped get him through the pandemic and smooth even the most difficult of life’s transitions.
“Sentimental,” by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, has been a past and more recent favorite. The opening lines: “Never want to be old. And I don’t want dependence. It’s no fun to be told that you can’t blame your parents anymore.”
