Beware! This is going to be a fluff post. But it’s something I’ve been meaning to talk about, something important to me: Music. Music is my jam, if you’ll permit me such a low-hanging-fruit of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich pun. Gosh I’m tired of PBnJs. Especially because living out of a car, in primarily hot climates, my PBnJs typically consist of just peanut butter and if — on good days — bread. Sometimes after raiding a continental breakfast we have jelly.

Between us we’ve got a couple instruments in the car, but the one getting the most love is my mandolin. Sadly, it’s very hard to find opportunities to play. You’d think work and chores would keep me away, but unexpectedly it’s having nothing to do, no routine, that makes it so hard to pick up. Brainpickings has written many posts about the habits to which many great thinkers and artists have attributed their success, or to which third party commentators, like the aforementioned blog, have attributed such productivity. And by golly without a regular breakfast or shower or exercise or work schedule I am struggling to fit in time! Perhaps it could be attributed to decision fatigue: I spend so much of my day deciding what to do, that I do so little…

But the real subject of this post is music for consumption.

Road trip playlists

We’ve got two road trip playlists, and two different philosophies drove their composition. My playlist focused on songs about road trips, or cars, or occasionally journeys more generally. My partner focused on songs that were good to sing along to. So mine is a bit impersonal and worth sharing, whereas the other is mostly only relevant to us.

• Convoy by C.W. McCall
• I’ve Been Everywhere by Johnny Cash
• On the Road Again by Willie Nelson
• I Drove All Night by Cindy Lauper
• Muddy Knees by Days N Daze
• The Road by Frank Turner
• Buzzbomb from Pasadena by Dead Kennedys (“The sign says next sign 30 miles” — rofl)
• How Far I’ll Go from Moana (I like Alessia Cara’s rendition)
• Road Trippin' by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• On the Open Road from A Goofy Movie
• Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf

My playlist is over a hundred songs but these are some of my favorites. While I didn’t set the playlist up to be a singalong, having heard some of songs so many times before, we’ve begun singing along, and even working on renditions on our own instruments. Regarding this particular sliceo f the list, comically — or creepily — enough, CoPilot was able to predict about half of the songs I wanted to share, including some of the ones I thought more obscure, like Muddy Knees and The Road. It also predicted my pointing out those songs were a bit niche…!

Regional radio

It’s pretty cool hitting scan on the radio sometimes. Most of it is top 40 or talk radio, but then you come across a good community/college/public radio station. Hearing some good Spanish language music that went beyond reggaeton on New Mexico and Texas stations, and French and Cajun music on Louisiana stations has been a great experience. Just wish I was quicker with the Shazam app when I hear something I like.

Shows

This has been difficult! All the bands we follow we’re like a week behind their tour or a week ahead. So we’ve seen very few concerts of from acts we knew ahead of time. Still we’ve seen other great shows. From live jazz sets when out swing dancing, to cool shows our hosts have told us about like a dive set of folk music from Brittany, to just great serendipitous finds: music is in no short supply, especially if you’re willing to try something new. Isn’t that was traveling is about, after all?

Nature

It takes a while to notice, unless, perhaps, you’re a birder (god forbid), but the morning birdsong, the afternoon cricket chirps, and the latter evening chirruping of frogs change when traveling. Different regions and their different fauna feature different seasonal shows than those to which I’ve been accustomed in the northern climes. Never underestimate natural music.