To go home for Thanksgiving, I have approximately a seven hour drive. Not telling you where I live, but along the eastern seaboard I will be hit with hours worth of traffic, and irritating tolls, and many confused drivers unfamiliar with my area. And you know what? I don't have a problem with it at all. I am much more patient in traffic than most other people I know. I just roll down my windows to let in the fresh air, and crank up my music.
I am always listening to music when I'm driving, because my car is my safe space. I can enter into this near-meditative space when I drive where the only things that exist are me and the road. I make hours-long driving playlists (most of which are publicly accessible on my Spotify (@bookbaroness) composed of the songs I have on loop at the moment, the ones I love and want to sing at the top of my lungs with no one judging me. This year, I'm trying something new--I have this incredibly long drive to go home, and I solicited music recommendations from my friends to include in a playlist along with a selection of albums which I hadn't yet had the chance to hear in full, in order. I am not so good at taking recommendations, there is a whole separate post in here somewhere about that, but I have relaxed my policy a little to take in some new music. Here are the albums I listened to on the first segment of my drive:
I have eclectic taste, ranging from country to folk to pop, but there are a few artists whose music I come back to time and again because it's so significant to me. One of those artists in Sara Bareilles, and I can't believe it took me this long to listen to her new album. This was the highlight of my experience and I love the new direction her songs have taken. The album is less singer-songwriter than her previous work, and the production is smooth but subtle. I love her earlier albums for their coffee-shop-pop feel, and her powerful voice (which happens to be reasonably close to my own range, great for singing in the car or in the shower), and Amidst the Chaos elevates everything to a new level. I can't even pick a favorite song, they are all so good! Consider this my plug for this album. My other stand-out experience is Miranda Lambert's Palomino. I've been listening to Lambert for as long as I can remember, I discovered her music on the "pop country" radio I loved on Apple Music (back when it was free) and kept up with her releases until relatively recently. A busy life has left me with little time to track down new releases from my favorite artists, but I caught up with Palomino and found it full of delightful songs. She co-writes with Natalie Hemby, one of my favorite songwriters currently in the country music space, and Palomino is full of tracks about different characters and lifestyles, an ode to the wanderers and free spirited among us. In other words, perfect for a drive. Here my favorite tracks are Actin' Up, Geraldene, and Waxahachie. I'll hopefully be able to share another post after I've listened to the other two-thirds of my playlist, so I won't tell you what the other albums on it are. Feel free to suggest any in the comments that you think deserve a listen, and I'll do my best to add them all!
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The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
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