Key to the Highway: Joe Stuckey

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 Joe Stuckey.

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

Joe Stuckey: As a brain tumor survivor, one of my challenges is that I don’t make adrenaline. It might be the placebo effect but I believe that 2 large cups of coffee are integral to get my day started. I normally do 2 creams and 2 Splendas, unless it’s a latte in which case I just do milk and enjoy the latte goodness. I prefer to drink it out of the mug I got at the LaBrea Tar Pits gift shop with the saber tooth cat on it.

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

JS: Two vivid memories here. The first was a hotel in New Mexico. We were on a tight budget and it was not a well made structure. The floor was slanted but the worst part was that apparently in the room above us there were a number of people practicing gymnastics for the Olympics (LOL) because there was constant jumping, clunking, and thumping at all hours of the day and night. We complained about this on multiple occasions but the situation never improved.

On the extreme other end of the spectrum, when I was on tour in Hawaii on the island of Oahu, we stayed at the Kahala Mandarin. We had an amazing suite with a lanai that overlooked the dolphin lagoon. We would enjoy breakfast as the dolphins swam right up to the edge of the lanai to say good morning. The chattiest one’s name was Lono. He would often pose for pictures.

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

JS: I make a living as a producer, artist and speaker and enjoy multiple genres of music. But if I had to pick one, it would probably be John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. The melodic and rhythmic ideas are so complex on this record that even though I’ve listened to it hundreds of times, it still contains mysteries.

I actually used this CD as pain management when I had hip surgery in my late 20s. I was able to play the Coltrane record and focus on it and not the pain.

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

JS: I have a stuffed frog—his name is Farley—that my wife gave me years ago that is the perfect pillow. He’s always first in the suitcase.

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)?

JS: I love food. It’s really difficult to eat healthily when you’re busy. That being said, my wife and I are always excited if there’s a PF Chang’s nearby. We also love LA taco trucks.

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?

JS: When I was on tour in Italy, we took a 1 day train trip to Venice. We loved it so much and tried to do as much as we could in that 1 day but have always said that we want to go back for an extended stay. We’d love to experience the holidays there.

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

JS: While we were touring in Los Angeles, we stopped at a small gift shop and I took home a magnet that said “Leap and the net will appear.” I really like that and keep in mind everyday.

Check his music out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZVtPQOQMK1PKu7xpCbT9EQ

See other Key to the Highway interviews here: https://americanahighways.org/category/interviews/key-to-the-highway-series/ (click here for: Todd Snider Todd Park Mohr Jim Lauderdale Vince Herman Jimmy Smith Ben Nichols Bruce Cockburn Charlie Musselwhite Nicki Bluhm Jim White Danny Barnes Patterson Hood Jerry Joseph BJ Barham Rodney Crowell Elizabeth Cook Tommy Womack Eric Ambel, Dan Baird, Robbie Fulks, Malcolm Holcombe Jon Langford Steve Poltz, Lilly Hiatt Sarah Shook & the Disarmers Sadler Vaden )