Each week’s episode of This American Life is a nugget of gold — a brain tickler, a heart tenderizer, a laugh provoker, a gut puncher.

Some of my favorite episodes and stories include the following:

One of the many wonderful components of each week’s broadcast is the curated soundtrack. While listening to an episode, I often find myself wondering, “What is that music? Who is playing it? And how do I get my hands on it?”

On this page, I’ve collected iTunes Music Store links to a number of songs and compositions that have been incorporated into TAL episodes into a playlist from which the tracks are easily purchasable.

 
 
 

With song previews, here:

 

 

 
 
 

With direct links to iTunes, here:

 

 

Enjoy!