Key to the Highway: Noah Guthrie

Americana Highways’ Key to the Highway series

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 Noah Guthrie.

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

NG: I usually like it black or maybe with just a touch of cream. No sugar please!

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

NG: Well I did end up staying in the Middle Eastern country of Oman once so I could play a 30 minute set. That was pretty interesting.

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

NG: Well if it’s just me, probably something by The Avett Brothers or Willie Nelson but if the whole band is there I think we’d want something a little funkier. Maybe the album Wake Up by John Legend and The Roots.

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

NG: A tiny red bird made out of clay that my gal made for me years ago. It travels in my guitar case everywhere I go.

AH: 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)?

NG: Honestly, this is probably the hardest part of being on the road. I’d like to say that we always eat healthy and take care of ourselves but it’s just not true. We do try and eat as clean as we can but when you are driving through West Virginia for the 20th time you know that the only option is Wendy’s. That being said, we have had some truly amazing food on the road and one of my favorites was NOLA Smoke House in New Orleans.

AH: 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?

NG: The answer to this question will probably change a million times but off the top of my head I don’t think I’ve spent nearly enough time in Washington state or Oregon.

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

NG: Probably just to take the miles as they come and remember to have fun. Sometimes after the first week or two on the road it can begin to feel too much like work (and it is work) but at the end of the day I get to play music with my closest friends and family for my living. You really can’t beat that.
Find all things Noah Guthrie, here: https://www.noahguthrie.com

See other Key to the Highway interviews here: https://americanahighways.org/category/interviews/key-to-the-highway-series/ (click here for: Jim White Danny Barnes Patterson Hood Jerry Joseph BJ Barham Rodney Crowell Todd Snider Elizabeth Cook Tommy Womack Eric Ambel, Dan Baird, Robbie Fulks, Malcolm Holcombe Jon Langford Steve Poltz, Lilly Hiatt Sarah Shook & the Disarmers )