Car Trips Of My Youth
When I was young I spent a lot of time in the car criss crossing the country. You see, my parents had moved from Minnesota to Montana in the 70′s to pursue their ski bum dreams and had settled there to start their family. Their families, however, remained back in Minnesota so at least once a year my sisters and I were packed into the car for the two day drive back to the Twin Cities. My mom considered this time on the road a prime opportunity to give us a dose of essential musical education. With my older sister in the passenger seat playing DJ’s assistant my Mom taught us about Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound, the glories of the entire Beatles catalog (a history lesson that required both the trip to and from Minnesota), how to recognize a good guitar lick, the importance of backup singers etc. The memories I have of popping in Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms once we began crossing the Rockies on our way back into the Flathead Valley or the ritual singing of “Don’t Fence Me In” as we crossed the seemingly endless plains or my mom explaining brilliance of The Allman Brother’s “Jessica” will forever be etched in my mind.
Once we moved to Minnesota we would still travel back to Montana – or out East to visit other contingents of the family – at least once a year. As we began to form our own musical tastes the music took some interesting turns leaving me with distinct associations of particular songs to one or another of our epic road trips. For example the summer we drove to Washington’s Olympic peninsula will always bring about memories of singing “Fishin In The Dark” then segueing directly into “Shoop” as dictated by my sister’s mixtape. Or the summer my Dad was at the wheel and Linda Ronstadt & Paul Simon poured from the speakers. Over the years I have found myself day dreaming of those summers when my world consisted of watching the landscape race by while trying to soak up as much as I could from the stories and music my parents were passing along. I have no doubt that my intrest in all varieties of music is rooted in those road trips and that I will most definitely subject my kids to a similar fate.
Naive Melody (Talking Heads Cover) – Arcade Fire
Walk Of Life – Dire Straits
Fishin In The Dark – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
To Love Somebody (Bee Gees Cover) – Ray LaMontagne
You Really Got A Hold On Me (Smokey Robinson cover) – She & Him (live)
Beast Of Burden + Sweet Jane (Rolling Stones & Velvet Underground cover) – The Kooks
Don’t Fence Me In – Willie Nelson
So Right, So Wrong – Linda Ronstadt
Rave On – Buddy Holly
Jessica – The Allman Brothers