Key to the Highway: Drayton Farley

Drayton Farley photo by Hayley Gjertsen

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 for music. We are sure they have key insights to share and stories to tell. Here’s one from Drayton Farley.

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

Drayton Farley: My morning beverage has always been the White Monster energy drinks. I love coffee too but those little guys have a good hold on me.

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

DF: We’re honestly pretty basic, mostly staying in Hilton or similar hotels. There have been some really nice Airbnbs and rustic cabin stays on the road though.

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

DF: I’d be fine with James McMurtry’s The Horses and the Hounds record. It listens like a movie, every song is uniquely its own and the visuals of those stories are just unmatched. It’s one of my all time favorites.

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

DF: My guitar is a must have item. I’d be entirely lost without it.

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)?

DF: I usually have to remind myself to eat on the road, given the travel times I usually settle for fast food but a good stop into a steakhouse can really bring me back to life!

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?

DF: I’d say anywhere Eastern Kentucky or Colorado. It’s all about the views and atmosphere for me and both of those places have plenty of both!

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

DF: There is a little postcard I got from Miner Design Co. that has a candle burning at both ends and it reads “Dreams don’t work unless you do” and that little postcard has been a constant reminder to never give up and to work with passion. It’s something small but it’s made a great big impact on my life.

Find more information on Drayton Farley, tour dates and more, here: https://draytonfarley.com

See other Key to the Highway interviews here: https://americanahighways.org/category/interviews/key-to-the-highway-series/ (click here for: Vince Herman Jimmy Smith Ben Nichols Bruce Cockburn Charlie Musselwhite Nicki Bluhm 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 Sadler Vaden )