Road Trip Earworms 2024 – Editor’s Pick for Favorite Songs
There’s nothing like an earworm, sounding so good no matter how many times you play it. I’ve been an earworm listener since I was a kid – hitting repeat to keep that feeling going for hours. There were a lot of them this year. I hear a lot of music over the course of a year, and here is my go-to, road trip earworm list for this year. I invite you to follow this list (scroll down here to find the actual playlist) and road test it on your next road trip. All of these songs are soooooo great!
Heather Little “Five Deer County” This song, like every one on the rest of the album, is superlative, moving, and connects immediately: “I’ve been the girl in the truck, I’ve been the wife on the farm.” REVIEW: Heather Little “By Now”
John Moreland “Gentle Violence” This whole album is golden. It’s John Moreland at his absolute best. This song strikes a perfect Americana sad catharsis chord and is achingly beautiful. REVIEW: John Moreland “Visitor”
Will Hoge “Deadbolt.” Will hit it out of the park with this year’s album Tenderhearted Boys. Thoughtful, wholly excellent songs. REVIEW: Will Hoge “Tenderhearted Boys”
Madeleine Kelson “Shaking Ground.” Pure goodness, she’s a complete ace songwriter. “I’m hard wired for letting go, moving with the changes wherever they throw me.” REVIEW: Madeleine Kelson “Where the Spirit Meets the Muscle”
Martin Kerr “Don’t Listen to Me.” Martin’s vocals are raw and vulnerable as he sings of knowing yourself: “Only you can tell when your heart is honest / don’t listen to me I don’t know what I’m talking about.” Interview: Martin Kerr on Street Performing, Travel, and His EP “Don’t Listen To Me”
Jason Eady and Taylor Hunnicutt “Burn It Down.” Bluesy and truthful: “Everytime things start to go my way, I burn it down like a temple on judgement day.” That about sums everything all up, doesn’t it? REVIEW: Jason Eady “Mississippi”
Sierra Ferrell “Dollar Bill Bar.” Ah, this one is just fun and a way to blow off steam and recapture your self esteem in a nicely written song. REVIEW: Sierra Ferrell “Trail of Flowers”
Jubal Lee Young “Seven Bridges Road.” Jubal Lee gives his Dad’s song a fantastic new life: soulful, mournful, and lovely. REVIEW: Jubal Lee Young “Wild Birds Warble”
Sturgill Simpson / Johnny Blue Skies “Mint Tea.” “Mint Tea.” Sturgill flexes his expert songwriting skills here, winging tales of self-doubt, love, and simplicity with a cup of mint tea gloriously winding its way through: “put another bandaid on my bullet wound, pour us a cup of that mint tea.” REVIEW: Johnny Blue Skies “Passage du Desir”
Jax Hollow “Fallout.” This song has everything: musicianship, a light touch on secret romance, and a little dance energy. “I could see this coming, if we’re gonna split the night and turn our worlds upside down, let me spin you around in the fallout.” REVIEW: Jax Hollow “Come Up Kid”
Joachim Cooder “Sight and Sound.” Joachim’s masterful musical blend is, as always, fabulous. “Is that heartbeat yours or mine when we do it right?” REVIEW: Joachim Cooder “Dreamer’s Motel”
Willie Watson “Real Love.” Willie Watson (founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show) has a twang in his vocal that’s raw and true as he sings to the love of music. “I come from the land of a million stars, in the dead of winter you can almost hear them burn. She came flying by, stardust in her eyes. But I’m up above it now. This is the only real love that I have ever known.” Show Review: Old Crow Medicine Show at Humphrey’s By the Bay
Steve Forbert “Clouds Roll Past the Sky.” Steve’s vocals are getting really vulnerable, sounding like aged wine, as he sings “I remember bees in clover, yellow swallowtails, don’t tell me those days are over, let’s walk hill and dale… save some time for stuff that calms your mind. ” Immediately you want to throw open the doors to get outside. REVIEW: Steve Forbert “Daylight Savings Time”
Caitlin Cannon “Waiting.” Caitlin delivers some raw truths about an attraction that lasted decades: “decided to fight for the rest of my life to get out of that hell I was caged in, just waiting til things were less complicated.” REVIEW: Caitlin Cannon “Beggar”
Maggie Rose “No One Gets Out Alive.” This song pierces straight through the noise and is imminently listenable. “Buy the house, visit Rome, wear the dress that stops the show, don’t you know no one gets out alive.” Interview: Maggie Rose Timely Third Album “Have a Seat “Turns on Listening and Being Heard
Swamp Dogg “Curtains on the Window.” Swamp’s vocals are perfectly raw and authentic, the banjo winds around as the tale of her leaving unfolds. REVIEW: Swamp Dogg “Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St”
Rod Picott “Digging Ditches.” This song digs deep into the hard work of manual labor, harsh masculine experiences and life: “we are decorated with scars and stitches, guys like me digging ditches.” Interview: Rod Picott on “Starlight Tour” Hard Work, and Dreams
John R. Miller “Borrowed Time.” This is from a whole album, a set of “fireside recordings” and the whole thing is ultra great. Just exactly what Americana music strives to be. REVIEW: John R. Miller “Heat Comes Down”
Julian Taylor “The Ridge” Live at TD Music Hall. Julian released a studio album this year which was already pretty hot, and then this live recording of “The Ridge” that was over the top smokin’. Check it out. REVIEW: Julian Taylor “Pathways”
Mike Montrey Band “Fortune Teller.” Mike has that gravely vocal that really reaches into your soul, and this song is a catchy commentary on the mixed messages that push and pull at us: speed up, slow down…. “There’s about a million ways that you could move in and out of this scene, but one day we’re all gonna need to make ’em.” REVIEW: Mike Montrey Band “Love, Time, and Mortality”
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings “What We Had.” “it seems like ancient history / you were sleeping and I was driving / while you were lying next to me / I’d scan the blue horizon.” Lovely and nostalgic. REVIEW: Gillian Welch and David Rawlings “Woodland”
Grace Pettis, Emily Scott Robinson, Mary Bragg “Thousand Times A Day.” How do you process the loss of a great love? A thousand times a day, from the grocery store to the fear of growing home alone. So sorrowfully sweet. REVIEW: Grace Pettis “Down To The Letter”
Jesse Terry “Burn the Boats.” This is a moving song about missing the earlier, freer phases of relationship, and the beauty of it all. “you hear an angel choir under cathedral spires, do you remember how the world lit up when we crossed that borderline.” Song Premiere: Jesse Terry “Burn the Boats”
Wyatt Flores “When I Die.” This song is nestled within a smash hit of an album released this year. It confronts mortality in a more powerfully direct way than is usually possible. “When I die and they lay me down, I hope they drop the casket and my body rolls on out. When they scoop me up and put me back in, I hope it’s on my side, that’s how I like to sleep in my bed. And oh no, don’t you cry.” REVIEW: Wyatt Flores Welcome to the Plains”
Hurray For the Riff Raff “Alibi.” You don’t have to die if you don’t want to die, you can take it all back in the nick of time.” This is catchy and memorable and an important confrontation of addiction and self-sabatoge. REVIEW: Hurray For The Riff Raff “The Past Is Still Alive”
Kaia Kater “Maker Taker.” Kaia has a rustic modern syncopated blend and it’s very compelling. The banjo plays the melody: “I’m on stage with no exit.” REVIEW: Kaia Kater “Strange Medicine”
Hayes Carll and the Band of Heathens “Any Other Way.” Ah the glorious pairing of Hayes Carll and the Heathens for some searing, rocking energy and healthy doses of truth. And it’s Southern rock delightful. “Who’s to say what’s right or what is wrong? Only thing to do is live it til it’s gone.” Show Review: Hayes Carll and The Heathens REVIEW: Hayes & The Heathens – Self-Titled
49 Winchester “Fast Asleep.” 49 Winchester speaks the brutal truth we need to hear about relationships and walls we put up. Man, this hits you right in the gut. REVIEW: 49 Winchester “Leavin’ This Holler”
Lori McKenna & Stephen Wilson Jr. “The Tunnel.” Everything Lori comes out with is gold. This one is a relatable tale of finding the path as kids, and realizing “you can’t get out the same way you came in.” REVIEW: Lori McKenna “1988”
Sophie Gault & Gabe Lee “Lately.” This duo is a great idea come to life. The song is old friends from youth reconnecting and catching up, with both Sophie and Gabe sounding gritty and true. “How you been lately?” REVIEW: Gabe Lee “Drink the River” Video Premiere: Sophie and the Broken Things “Heavy Metal”
The Red Clay Strays “Wanna Be Loved.” The Red Clay Strays are essentially reclaiming a healing masculinity in this one, and it’s powerful, timely and relevant: “Can you tell me I’m worthy? Am I working hard enough?… I need a home.” REVIEW: The Red Clay Strays “Made By These Moments”
Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms “Same Little Heart.” This song is winsome duets and nostalgia and memories of a quiet farm on the plains. “I remember when I was young, watching when I was young laying in the fields as the clouds roll by / And I still have the same little heart that I had then.” REVIEW: Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms “Gold In Your Pocket”
Anna Tivel “Real Things.” In her crystalline voice, Anna offers clear imagery with deep life references layered in. “Woke up the world was heavy, bright lights of blue and red.” REVIEW: Anna Tivel “Living Thing”
Scott Sean White “Pulling Weeds.” This song is thoughtful and down to earth, about pulling out the things that weigh you down, living with yourself and – not giving up. REVIEW: Scott Sean White “Even Better On the Bad Days”
Roger Street Friedman “Rolling in Again.” Roger makes catchy rootsy rock songs and this one has an ear worm chorus against lively acoustic and electric guitars and: “She’s always rolling out and rolling in again.” Song Premiere: Roger Street Friedman “Rolling In Again”
Slaid Cleaves “Blanco River Meditation #2.” Slaid’s songwriting is masterful. This one is just as wonderful as each of his other wonderful songs. REVIEW: Slaid Cleaves “Together Through the Dark”
Caleb Caudle “The Devil’s Voice.” Caleb sets up a dark groove here and has the uncanny ability to pull you right into the heart of the tale. REVIEW: Caleb Caudle “Live from Cash Cabin”
Jeffrey Foucault “Crushed Ice and Gasoline.” An easygoing road trip song with a great groove that’s memorable and will make you want to press repeat. REVIEW: Jeffrey Foucault’s “Blood Brothers” Will Make You Smile
Mindy Smith “Quiet Town.” Delightful acoustic guitar playing sets up Mindy’s pure vocals and the nostalgic: “I’m willing to be we’re not the only ones left missing a quiet town.” Bentley’s Bandstand: Favorite Albums 2024 (Second Half)
Amelia White “Something New Comes.” Amelia sets up high quality arrangements that drive the song and pull you in to listen instantly all at the same time. REVIEW: Amelia White “Love I Swore”
Amy Helm “Money on 7.” Amy’s album this year broke new ground and pulled Americana songs into a slightly modern arena. “I’ll never say I have no regrets, you know I have a few.” REVIEW: Amy Helm “Silver City”is Raw Emotion, Empathy and Ultimately Catharsis
Noeline Hoffman “One Hell of a Woman.” This song builds reflections on Americana musical foundations to honest lyrical reflections. https://noelinehofmann.com
Brenna MacMillan & Sarah Jarosz “For Everything.” This song will give you the good kind of chills as it builds up and the vocals vibrate closely together. Nice. Show Review: Sarah Jarosz at Gothic Theatre in CO
Road Trip Earworms 2024 – Editor’s Pick for Favorite Songs
