Key to the Highway: Rodney Crowell

Americana Highways’ Key to the Highway series photo by Michael Aarons

Fans always clamor to learn more about their favorite, most beloved musicians and those who travel with them. There’s such an allure to the road, with its serendipity, inevitable surprises, and sometimes unexpected discomforts. This interview series is a set of questions we are asking some of our favorite roots rock Americana artists to get to know more about them and what they’ve learned and experienced on the road. We are sure they have key insights to share and stories to tell. Here’s one from Rodney Crowell.

How do you like your coffee or other morning wake-up beverage?

Peets dark roast coffee with a splash of Organic Valley Grassfed Milk

What’s the most interesting or strangest motel/hotel or place you have stayed (while on the road?)

Wintertime in a six–room-motel near where the picnic at hanging rock took place in the wine country southwest of Melbourne Australia. The innkeeper warned me not to turn on the heater because the super poisonous Brown Snake and the deadly Funnel Web spider were drawn to heat and would find their way in. It was nearly freezing in the room and I slept in ten-minute increments, convinced the snakes and spiders were sensing what little body heat I was giving off. At dawn, hoping there was warmth outside, I opened the door to find a six-foot, Red Kangaroo, that I could have sworn wanted inside my room.

If one CD is stuck in the player in the van for the entire tour, what do you hope it is? And why?

Booker T and the MG’s “Universal Language.” No words.

What’s one personal item you must have with you on your road trip?

Whichever book I’m reading.

What is your relationship with food? How do you handle this on the road, and what’s your favorite dish on the road, (or restaurant, and what do you order there)?

I’m a foodie with a knack for picking the best fine dining establishments at a glance. I also go out of my way to find the best breakfast restaurants. Wild caught Salmon with leeks and lemon butter. Egg white omelet with spinach, onion and tomato with french fries.

If you could pause your life for a few weeks and spend some time living in a place you only have passed through, which would you choose, and why?

Amsterdam. I’ve had brief stays there. Each time was not enough.

What quote or piece of advice have you gotten from someone on the road that has really stuck with you?

Finish your set three minute before your allotted time when you’re the opening act.

Find all things Rodney Crowell, including his album Texas, here: https://www.rodneycrowell.com

See other Key to the Highway interviews here: https://americanahighways.org/category/interviews/key-to-the-highway-series/ (click here for: Todd Snider Elizabeth Cook Tommy Womack Eric Ambel, Dan Baird, Robbie Fulks, Malcolm Holcombe Jon Langford Steve Poltz, Lilly Hiatt  Sarah Shook & the Disarmers ) Sign up for our weekly newsletter here for your Friday reminder for this series and more: