Being detail-oriented is usually a good thing

One of the main appeals of this trip, besides the chance to learn about the Mormons, was the amount of time I’d have in the car to listen to music. I kept track of every CD I listened to, because I am anal-retentive, and I hoped it would teach me something about myself (it didn't). I listened to all CDs all the way through, rather than flipping through songs like an attention deficient monkey (I can get that way in the car). I could have listened to more CDs, but sometimes my stereo gets overheated if I drive for more than an hour or two without stopping. The CDs, and any relevant comments:

R.E.M. – Green
Had a craving to hear "You Are the Everything."

Richard Shindell – Courier
Good pick because it brings together three good trucking song, and Richard's cover of "Fourth of July, Asbury Park" has been one of the songs I have had stuck in my head this month.

Jeffrey Foucault – Ghost Repeater
If all goes as planned, I'll be seeing Mr. Foucault at the Tractor tomorrow.

Jesse Sykes – Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul
I don't remember what was going on when I listened to this.

Kris Delmhorst – Strange Conversation
My first listen to this CD, which is based on poetry. Poems either provided the framework for the song, or in some cases, provided actual lyrics. Very interesting CD.

Nerissa & Katryna Nields – Love and China
Has a lot of songs about travel and movement.

A.C. Newman – The Slow Wonder
To try to pep myself up in Oregon.

Feist – Let It Die
The sun was setting as I listened to this CD.

David Bowie – Hunky Dory
Listening to this CD as I crossed the Idaho border.

Sufjan Stevens – (Come on feel the) Illinoise
I put it on to see if there were any comparisons between Idaho and Illinois, besides their first letter. Then I started thinking about songs that could be written when Sufjan gets around to his Idaho album. Here's what I came up with:

In Oregon they drive slow slow slow
But not in Ida-ho-ho-ho
Aw no no no
You gotta go go go
To Idaho-ho-ho
Wo-wo-wo
Don’t chu-know, Don’t chu-know, Don’t chu-know
In Boise, it’s noisy
In Twin Falls, we make phone calls
In Bliss, we kiss
In Idaho City, it’s pretty
In Sun Valley, we’ll rally
In Glenns Ferry, we’re merry
In Pocatello, we’ll say hello
Yo! Yo! Yo!
Potato! to! to!
Idahooooooooooooooooo!

If you can't tell, I'd been driving for a LONG TIME by this point. But hey, Sufjan, call me when you get to the Idaho album!

Bottle Rockets – 24 Hours a Day
A raucous end to a long day.

The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
An early morning album. Driving past mountains, rolling hills.

Patty Griffin – Children Running Through
New Patty Griffin, it will probably take a few more listens for me to absorb. She lets go with the voice a little more on this one.

Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
I had planned to put this on in Utah, because it contained the only song I could think of that mentions Utah, which is "Promised Land" ("rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert"). Also lots of songs about driving/cars. But listening to it while I was driving, with the first song being "Badlands," I started to think about it as a road trip album, with Badlands being South Dakota, and where Bruce might have had to drive by song 6 ("Promised Land"/Utah). I ended up not liking the theory because by song 4 ("Candy's Room"), he really wasn't anywhere interesting that I would have imagined Candy living.

Erin McKeown – We Will Become Like Birds
So I could re-live the excellent concert from last Thursday night.

Johnny Cash – American III: Solitary Man
What I listened to as I drove around Salt Lake City. Probably my favorite of the American recordings, and a good CD to listen to as you drive around, thinking about Mormons.

Mason Jennings – Boneclouds
It was late, I was in Utah.

Ryan Adams – Jacksonville City Nights
In hindsight, I probably should have listened to Gold, because it's the quintessential road trip/travel album, but this is what got be through a dark Idaho night.

Tom Russell – Love and Fear
My second favorite album released in 2006.

Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
My third favorite album released in 2006. Here I should say that my favorite album released in 2006 was We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, by Bruce Springsteen. But I didn't play it here, because by this point, I had made the unofficial rule in my head that an artist only got one album played apiece, and Bruce had gotten his earlier in the day.

Josh Ritter – The Animal Years
I was driving through Idaho. Josh Ritter is from Idaho. Also, this album has the song "Idaho" on it.

Tift Merritt – Tambourine
This album makes me want to move down south again.

The Byrds – Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Boise was a bit of a bad day for me...it was raining, I kept getting lost, I couldn't find a place to eat, I needed an oil change and all of the car places were closed. This was what I listened to as I drove around.

The Long Winters – Putting the Long Days to Bed
See above.

Belle & Sebastian – Tigermilk
The first album of the last day of driving.

Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope
Not much happened while this CD was on.

Peter Mulvey – The Knuckleball Suite
I forget how much I like this CD.

The Essex Green – Cannibal Sea
Normally this is a quick, happy bounce of a CD, but on this particular listen, the CD player kept overheating, so I kept having to turn off the stereo so it would cool down. Turned a short CD into a very long experience.

Mindy Smith – Long Island Shores
This was my first-ever listen to this CD. It was sweet.

Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
I put this one on because I wanted to hear “Idiot Wind,” as the winds of Eastern Washington were trying their best to blow me right off the highway.

The Be Good Tanyas – Blue Horse
This CD was played during a particularly dire section of the trip, when I realized that I had inadvertantly passed up my last chance for gas while perilously close to empty. I was trying to get through Manastash Pass between Yakima and Ellensburg, watching the gas light flicker, watching the needle dip below 'E.' Eventually I had to turn this CD off because I just needed to focus all of my energy on willing a gas station into existence.

Kathleen Edwards – Back to Me
This is another CD that I had to turn off because the road needed my full attention. When I was trying to get through the Snoqualmie Pass, it was raining/snowing...the worst weather of my whole trip. I was convinced I was going to die.

Clem Snide – End of Love
I don't know what it says about Kathleen Edwards, or about my timing, but as soon as this CD came on, the rain let up. I began the slow crawl into Seattle, wishing for those Idaho highways where you're the only car on the road and you can go 80. Through sheer luck, the CD ended right as I parked behind my apartment.