We’re less than a month out from spring. That means we’re closer to warmer weather and Spring Break road trips. In the middle of March, my family and I will go for a long drive in a Chrysler Pacifica minivan, which will take us from the Phoenix area to Carlsbad, California. I know some of the artists and songs we’ll listen to along the way, which I’ve put below. Which ones will you play on your next road trip? Tell us in the Comments section below.
I’ve been on several road trips with my family when I was a kid, but the only song I recall from one of those journeys is the DNA dance remix of “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega. It’s been decades but, from what I remember, my brother Anthony and I kept chanting “do do do-do do do do-do” (try not to do the same after you listen to the song) as we rode in the back of a blue Ford Aerostar on the way up to Milwaukee. It wasn’t until I met my wife Eli and drove several round trips within Texas that I started noticing which artists and songs I typically listen to during a road trip. Here are some of my must-haves:
Eagles: With fuel/food stops and bathroom breaks, the trip from Austin to El Paso can take close to 10 hours. Eli and I were fortunate to be able complete it several times in press vehicles such as the GMC Yukon XL Denali, Ford F-150 Raptor, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara, and Ram 1500 Rebel. However nice and comfortable those may have been, none of them made the way there any less monotonous after hour five. Eli played some of her favorites, such as Taylor Swift and Adele, but we also listened to a lot of SiriusXM satellite radio. One of the artists that we heard frequently (but not too frequently) was the Eagles, particularly their older stuff (although I love their 2007 double album “Long Road Out of Eden.”) I find their more laid-back songs, such as “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Take It Easy,” and “Desperado,” are great for passing mile after mile on the highway in complete calm. “Take It to the Limit,” particularly the 1976 live version recorded at The Forum in California, is one Eagles song I play louder than the others just to better hear more of Randy Meisner’s falsettos.
Jackson Browne: There’s a feeling of loneliness to some of his songs, such as “The Load-Out,” that fits long drives. It makes me envision a man whose most stable, longest-lasting relationship is with the road. The towns he stops in and the faces he meets along the way always change, but the road ahead is always the same, forever leading him toward a horizon that holds no sense of peace or contentment. After being a tourist in melancholia (which requires playing “Call It a Loan” — despite its romantic lyrics), I can always liven things up with Browne’s cover of the Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs song “Stay.”
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band: By now, you may be noticing a theme to this list. I like music from many different decades and genres, but my interstate travels have resulted in 1970s music being an important part of them. “Night Moves” is groovy and fun. However, it wouldn’t quite be a road trip without hearing “Against the Wind” at least once. Like many Jackson Browne songs, it’s a bit sad, looking back on youthful days filled with loss and mistakes, but it also has a sense of perseverance that provides a glimmer of hope. It goes well with long drives in which you might literally be driving against the wind, and you’re almost certainly battling highway hypnosis, boredom, and the overwhelming desire to somehow magically teleport to your destination after several hours of passing nothing but seemingly endless fields. I also have to mention “Turn the Page” — the Seger version and the cover by Metallica.
Counting Crows: I fell in love with this band in high school when its 1999 album “This Desert Life” was the soundtrack for one particularly memorable boating and camping trip with my buddies. The rowdy “Hanginaround” is a great way to get amped up and ready to go. Front man Adam Duritz wrote “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby” about his imaginary version of the actress Monica Potter (you may remember her from the ’90s movies “Con Air” and “Patch Adams,” or the 2010s TV show “Parenthood”). It’s a long song, but its sense of wonder, poetry, sweetness, and adventure makes every minute — and every mile passed in that time — more pleasant. “A Long December,” a bittersweet song about both past regrets and hope for the future from the 1996 album “Recovering the Satellites,” is ideal for winter road trips, but I’ll make sure to work it into the rotation during my family’s upcoming trek to California.
