Traveling music has been around since bards have been writing ballads, and oral travel poetry dates back before Homer. In America, there is a strong folk tradition of travel songs, with artists such as Woodie Guthrie singing Kerouacian tunes about rambling through the dust bowl and living the itinerant life. Distinct from the folk ballad is the “hot-rod song” of the early 60s, primarily about fast cars and flashy lifestyles.
AlbumsTHE EAST COAST
Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (1973). The Boss didn’t really write about anything other than the road. “Rosalita” will have you wishing you could disobey your parents all over again.
THE DEEP SOUTH
Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961). More myth than man, Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil in Clarksdale, MS in exchange for his guitar skills. This will have you travelin’ down dirt roads looking for your lost woman in no time.
THE GREAT NORTH
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002). We’re not entirely sure why this works, but something about this record suggests snow-covered plains. “Heavy Metal Drummer” is particularly irresistible.
THE NATIONAL ROAD
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965). Any Dylan will do, but this is as good as it gets. Crank up the volume and play “Like a Rolling Stone” as you set out. There’s just no other way.
ROUTE 66
AC/DC: Highway to Hell (1979). Ignore the fact that the lead singer drank himself to death six months after the album’s release, and revel in the chunky, hard-stompin’ riffs of these all-time rock anthems.
THE OREGON TRAIL
Woody Guthrie: Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs (1962). This collection from the God of Folk even has a song called “Oregon Trail” on it. The perfect soundtrack when fording the river and dying of dysentery.
THE SOUTHERN BORDER
Johnny Cash: Complete Live at San Quentin (2000). Recorded in California in 1969, this album is Cash at his Texas outlaw best, singing about a Mississippi jail, among other things. Country never sounded this crazy.
THE PACIFIC COAST
Joni Mitchell: Blue (1971). For the contemplative hippie in all of us. Sounds even better if waves can be heard in the distance, and “California” is everybody’s favorite.
Aerosmith, “On the Road Again”
The Allman Brothers, “Ramblin’ Man”
Audioslave, “I am the Highway”
B-52s, “Love Shack”
The Beatles, “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?”
The Beach Boys, “Fun Fun Fun”
Black Sabbath, “Hard Road”
Michelle Branch, “Breathe”
Garth Brooks, “Callin’ Baton Rouge”
Cake, “Stick Shifts and Safety Belts”
Johnny Cash, “City of New Orleans”
Kelly Clarkson, “Since U Been Gone”
The Clash, “Train In Vain (Stand By Me)”
Tom Cochrane, “Life is a Highway”
Sheryl Crow, “Every Day is a Winding Road”
Deep Purple, “Highway Star”
John Denver, “Take Me Home, Country Roads”
The Doobie Brothers, “Rockin’ Down the Highway”
Bob Dylan, “Highway 51 Blues”
Eve 6, “Open Road Song”
Fastball, “The Way”
Golden Earring, “Radar Love”
Woody Guthrie, “Hard Travelin’”
Sammy Hagar, I Can’t Drive 55”
Jimi Hendrix, “Crosstown Traffic”
Elton John, “Blues for My Baby and Me”
Mike Jones, “Still Tippin’”
John Mayer, “Why Georgia”
Don McLean, “American Pie”
The Mekons, “Lost Highway”
Willie Nelson, “On the Road Again”
Elvis Presley, “Long Lonely Highway”
Prince, “Little Red Corvette”
John Prine, “Paradise”
Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
Simon & Garfunkel, “America”
Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”
Bruce Springsteen, “Born to Run”
Steppenwolf, “Born to be Wild”
James Taylor, “Carolina in my Mind”
Livingston Taylor, “Truck Driving Man”
Bobby Troup, “Route 66”
U2, “Where the Streets Have No Name”
Kanye West f. Paul Wall, “Drive Slow”