Clean Up With US: An Homage to V101.5

Music has always held a special place for me. I come from singers and musicians on both sides of my family. I’ve had a radio in my room for as long as I can remember. Every Christmas, I wanted the next upgrade… from my brothers’ mini-boombox, to a cassette deck, to CDs, then a Walkman, then an iPod. My daddy gave me the blues. My mama kept gospel on rotation. My older brothers filled in everything in between. And on my mom’s side, we don’t need much of a reason to break into hymns and harmonies. We even had a family choir. It was beautiful.

With that kind of upbringing, my whole life plays like a soundtrack. I think in songs. Every moment has a vibe. Even cleaning. My mama used to blast gospel on Saturdays while we scrubbed the house from top to bottom. And now, when my kids hear my playlist and give me that look of “oh no… not the clean up music,” I know I’ve done something right.

But there was one station that shaped me more than anything else: V101.5. The V stood for Variety, but for me it was old school heaven. That station was everything. It affirmed the music my daddy passed down and what my brothers put me onto. It was vibrant and lively and heartbreaking and soulful. One minute you’d hear “Mama used to say, take your time young man…” and the next you’d be yelling “Your…good love… deserves an encore!” And when the Quiet Storm hit at night with “Moments in Love,” please. I was done.

I can still see myself in high school, in my royal-blue 1994 Dodge Shadow—Berry—windows down, acting like I had personally lived every love story and heartbreak those artists were singing about.

Eventually the station got bought out and switched to hip hop and R&B—which was cool—but I always missed what it used to be. So the Clean With US playlist is my little tribute to V101.5. A nod to the soundtrack that raised me.

My kids might roll their eyes now, but I hope one day, when it’s their turn to turn on “clean up music,” this playlist takes them back to that feeling of being connected to me. Back to a time, a place, a melody that meant home.