Sentimental Music and Songs for Mom

Mostly sung: only about a third of the tracks are instrumental. The vocal tracks name the subject directly, including Mama by St. Paul de Vence, Mom Life by Heather Evans, Cherry Blossom Wine (For Mama) by Michael Tomlinson and From Love (Momma Song) by Chris Hawkes. The instrumental third, such as A Mother's Love by Michael Dulin, Homeward Bound by Mark Petrie and Jetty Rae's Climbing Clouds (Instrumental), is the pick when a family voiceover or spoken toast needs the room.

Acoustic guitar and piano lead most tracks, with light electric guitar and percussion behind them, in the singer-songwriter and contemporary folk lane of John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Colbie Caillat and Ingrid Michaelson. The moods center on love, happiness and calm rather than grief, so the register is warm and grateful, not mournful. A few cinematic cues, Sky Blue Shimmer by The Atlas Line among them, stretch toward the swelling guitar style associated with Explosions in the Sky, useful for a slideshow finale.

A Mothers Day tribute video on YouTube can use this music. Audiosocket offers Personal plans for individual creators and Commercial plans for brand, agency and client work, and every track is cleared under the license purchased, including monetized YouTube video. A family tribute on your own channel belongs on a Personal plan; a retailer's Mothers Day campaign belongs on a Commercial plan at the Small Business or Large Business tier. Either way, the license is perpetual for that finished video.

This collection is song-led rather than score-led. Most tracks are singer-songwriter, folk and adult-contemporary pieces with lyrics written about mothers, parents and home, whereas a typical emotional cue is a wordless orchestral swell. Only a handful here are cinematic emotional cues, Homeward Bound by Mark Petrie among them, and they open or close a piece before the lyric tracks take over. Choose this when the words need to say mom; choose an orchestral collection when the picture carries the sentiment alone.

This collection suits grandparent and general family videos too. The tagging behind the collection leans as heavily on grandparents, home and parents as on Mothers Day itself, with love and tenderness close behind, so grandparent tributes, homecoming videos and family-history slideshows all fit. Tracks run around three minutes, close to the length of a typical photo slideshow, so many can play start to finish without an edit. One Two Three by Benjamin Mullins and Awbrey Road by Mark Ullrich are examples that read as family rather than strictly mom.