Since festival season and summer tours are approaching, both fans and musicians will be putting lots of miles on their cars and tour buses. If you’re looking for musical inspiration while on wide-open road, check out these responses from some of our favorite, well-traveled musicians. Relix asked some artists what they like to listen to while they’re on the road – and we received a wide array of responses, from podcasts to dubstep and everything in between.

Bela Fleck

I like to have some new music with me on tour; currently it’s Brooklyn Rider String Quartet, Punch Brothers and Alabama Shakes.

I usually listen to music that will inspire me to be more open regarding the music I am doing on tour.

Sometimes it’s Bartok string quartets, or concertos, sometimes Eric Dolphy, or certain Coltrane or Miles Davis recordings or maybe it’s Nikhil Banerjee sitar ragas. It’s got to be something I can learn from.

I like Radio Lab and Sound Opinions for podcast listening.

I also loved the Shirley MacLaine and William Shatner audio book biographies read by the authors. That was some good fun. If Keith Richards read his book in person, it would be even greater than the book already is.

Keller Williams
While driving to festivals, it’s always important to stay awake so I prefer super up-tempo music, super loud with bass cranked and treble even. A good track to download first for a road trip is the record “All Day” from Girl Talk. You can get the whole record as one 70-minute track…for free. It’s crazy mashups of pop music and raunchy gangster rap. It’s not for everyone but almost. It’s entertaining and a good natural, legal, and safe way to stay awake.

Speaking of raunchy mashups, check out 8corporation on Sound Cloud. My favorite is “The Ultimate Trololo Mashup” but I’m weird.
Other favorite road trippin’ tunes would be:
Replacements, “Kids Don’t Follow”
Kinky (feat. John McCrea from CAKE) “The Headphonist”
Lykke Li, “Get Some”
White Denim, “Drug”
Phish, “Punch You in the Eye”
Skrillex, “Nice Sprites and Scary Monsters”
Bassnectar, “Basshead” (I’m a sucker for the hits)
Brian Kinney Fresno, “Bobby Salazar”
Steve Kimock, “Ice Cream”

I got at least 7,587 more if you need ’em!

Brian Hannon (Company)

“Holiday Road” – from Nat’l Lampoon Vacation…perfect pump up road trip song.

“Spottieottiedopaliscious” – Outkast…when things get quiet in the van and this song comes on, its time to get stoned.

Anything from “Exile on Main St” – when I don’t want to think about what to listen to, this album is getting played…usually end up listening to this several times. Always perfect

“Lay Low”-My Morning Jacket…I love singing while I’m driving, I just turn Jacket on shuffle and wail.

“Motor Away”- Guided by Voices…another great driving song, about driving. Alien Lanes is another great go-to record for zoning out and knocking out some miles
Jesse Miller (Lotus) The open road, and the spirit of freedom and adventure that accompany it, is something distinctly American in my mind. I think it has been muse to a great deal of distinctly American music. Think the big open fifths of Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo” or the high-flying harmonized guitars of Allman Brother’s “Jessica.” Along those lines I tend to lean toward bands such as Wilco, Built to Spill, Spoon, New Pornographers, and T. Rex (Canadian and British, but I’ll let them in).

Chamberlin

It’s fair to say we spend an excessive amount of time on the road. The good thing is the endless road trip means endless road trip songs and albums. The key is to keep it varied and to resist the temptation to over-play any one thing. Lately our van speakers have been blasting:

The Shins “Fall of ’82”
Pink Floyd “Dogs”
My Morning Jacket “Victory Dance”
Aretha Franklin “Dr. Feelgood”
Norah Jones “Happy Pills”
Beach House “Lover of Mine”
Tom Petty “Turn This Car Around”

Matt McDonald (Perpetual Groove) “Golden Age” – Beck
First time I listened to the album Sea Change we were driving across Northern Arizona. Ever since then this is a must for all drives.

“False Protections” – Rotary Downs

Just a great song from a great band. It’s a sing-a-long for me, who doesn’t like to sing and drive?

Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero (full album)
Start to finish this is a great album for multiple reasons. It keeps you going on the long drives being loud and full of angst. Not good for city driving though, too easy to stimulate road rage.

Surprise Me Mr. Davis – Jam Cruise 2012 late night set
Just an amazing show from SMMD. There’s nothing not to like about this band and all of the parts that make it up. The “Sissyfuss” alone from this set will make your drive.

Dawes – “Time Spent in Los Angeles”
Great driving tune, great to sing along too (like most every Dawes song)

Anything and everything from The Beatles, Wilco, and The Flaming Lips

Stay tuned: More to come…