“I chose Joy because quite frankly I need to feel more joy right now, in this time, than I do,” Cidny Bullens tells Apple Music about the playlist he’s taken over in honour of Trans Day of Visibility. “The same goes for hope, but joy is what makes me want to dance.” His song picks were chosen with exactly that purpose in mind: to make you move. “I also associate joy with how a song is written,” says the singer-songwriter whose career spans five decades, numerous live and recorded collaborations with Elton John and acclaimed solo albums featuring artists including Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams and Bryan Adams. “How the chords, melody and lyrics, the vocal, instrumentation and, of course, the artist themselves flow together to make one great track. That brings me joy, wonder and awe. So, while the songs on my list may not necessarily express joy in the lyrics, they bring me joy just by listening to them.” Thinking back on recent joyful experiences, Bullens reflects on a concert he performed at in LA. “It was an event put together by singer-songwriter/producer Wendy Waldman called TOGETHER, featuring Poland’s biggest pop star Mietek Szcześniak, H.B. Barnum [music director and arranger for Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Lou Rawls…the list goes on], H.B.’s Life Choir, The Ash Grove Alumni and my trio, The Refugees with Wendy Waldman and Deborah Holland. The whole experience of rehearsing, playing, singing and performing brought me the most joy I have felt in a long time.” Looking through his playlist picks, Bullens highlights four tracks in particular: Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”, Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Gladys Knight & The Pips and “Dance to the Music” by Sly & The Family Stone. “Each of these four songs were a part of my early years,” Bullens says. “I feel so lucky to have grown up in the ’60s and ’70s, when so many of the songs on my playlist, and what we now call classics, were written and recorded. I mean, who wouldn’t want to move to these tracks?”