The Perpetual Tourist

Every road trip needs music.  Once you get out of the familiar territory of your local stations, you might not find anything worth listening to.  Or you could be like me and never listen to the radio anyway, because you love your own collection too much.

When I’m on the road, especially on long drives, I prefer high-energy tunes and things I can sing along to, which will keep me happy and awake instead of bored and tired.

Here are five of my favorite CDs for the car:

1. Great Big Sea, Road Rage - Great Big Sea is a Canadian folk rock/celtic band, and this is their 1999 live album.  Live albums are great for the road because they’re about the road, and artists always put their best, most fun performances on these albums.  Road Rage has lots of great sea shanties and drinking songs that are perfect for whole-car sing-alongs.  Save the drinking for later, though.  Favorite tracks:  “Lukey,” “I’m a Rover,” “Mari-Mac”
2. Indigo Girls, Retrospective - This is the Indigo Girls’ 2000 greatest hits compilation.  They’ve since put out two more studio albums that rock my world, but Retrospective is solid throughout.  “Get Out The Map” is my personal anthem — a song about the joy of carefree journeying with those that you love most.  Emily Saliers and Amy Ray alternate writing and singing duties, and each woman has a unique sound and style, giving the album wonderful depth.  Favorite tracks:  “Get Out the Map,” “Least Complicated,” “Shame on You”
3. The Decemberists, Picaresque - I admit, it took me a while to come around on the Decemberists.  The lead singer has a distinct nasal, almost phony sort of sound, and it rubbed my ears the wrong way for a long time.  But the songs were just too good for me to sustain my dislike.  The tunes are catchy, but not at all in the way that pop songs are catchy.  This album is full of intense emotion, so I prefer to listen to it when I’m calm and happy, lest it exacerbate any tension I’m feeling.  Favorite Tracks:  “The Sporting Life”  (about a teenager’s ultimate embarrassment — I identify all too well), “The Engine Driver”
4. Hanson, This Time Around - That’s right — Hanson.  I love these guys, and I’ve been a diehard fan from the start.  Unlike other teenybopper sensations, Hanson writes and performs their own music, and they do it well.  This Time Around is their second major studio album, dating all the way back to their teen years in 2000.  It’s my favorite because it’s a little more grown up than Middle of Nowhere (remember MMMBopping to that all summer in 1997?) but it still gives me a nostalgic rush of teenage glee every time I listen to it.  The harmonica part in “If Only” is enough to cause a speeding ticket, though, so save this one for the freeway.  Favorite tracks:  “Sure About It,” “If Only”
5. Cake, Fashion Nugget - You probably own this CD, don’t you?  All the cool kids of the 90’s bought it, back before all music was downloaded.  Hell, maybe you even have it on cassette.  But if you haven’t listened to it recently, you’re doing yourself a disservice.  It’s impossible to feel anything but cheerful and excited when you’ve got this disc spinning.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (from laughter), you’ll sing along.  Dust it off and put it in your player for the next hour of your trip.  Favorite tracks:  “Stickshifts and Safety Belts,” “Italian Leather Sofa,” “The Distance”

This list should not be taken as a TOP five.  I love all my music and I couldn’t imagine my life without any one of the 1,000+ discs I own.  There might be artists on here that you’ve never heard of before.  Find their MySpace pages to hear some of their latest stuff for free, or click the links above to buy the albums I’ve recommended.  You really can’t go wrong — not even with Hanson.

I feel guilty for all that I’ve left out, though.  Perhaps I’ll revisit road trip tunes in a future Perpetual Tourist post.  If you have any suggestions for me, I’d love to hear them — maybe they’ll make my next list!