When the weather begins to warm, Husband’s thoughts run toward throwing our stuff in the car and hitting the road. Whether you live here or are just visiting, California is one of the best places in the world for a road trip. Along its over 850 miles of coastline alone, you can find lively urban or laid-back beach communities, rolling farmlands, sheer cliff vistas, remote patches of surf and sand, ancient sequoia groves and rugged mountain peaks. The Golden State has all of that and more.
Every road trip needs a soundtrack.
After planning the route and stops for our road trip up the coast, I gathered music to complement the journey. As a passionate music lover, I need songs on any drive, and I especially need it on an extended road trip. There are spaces in California where radio reception is non-existent and I want more than the drone of the engine as accompaniment.
I assembled some of Husband’s and my favorites – mostly Rock, our favorite genre, but I threw in several ballads, a couple of instrumentals, and a little Country just to mix things up.
Back home, when I hear one of these songs amidst the chaos of daily life, I am taken immediately back to that trip – resting my head on my arm on the open window, the wind on my face and blowing through my hair, watching the world go by while singing our way down the road.
If you’d like to try out our Road Trip Soundtrack on your next trip, scroll down to the bottom of this post where I share a link to our playlist on Spotify.
In no particular order:
The Passenger – Iggy Pop
Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
Wake Up Dolores – Los Lobos
Mystery Achievement – Pretenders
A Thousand Miles From Nowhere – Dwight Yoakam
Focus – Jacob Whitesides
Death by Rock n’ Roll – The Pretty Reckless
Breaking the Chains – Dokken
Freedom of Choice – Devo
Hotel California – Eagles
Under the Milky Way – The Church
The Business – (Vintage Culture & Dubdogz Remix) – Tiesto
Sign of the Gypsy Queen – April Wine
Mercury Blues – Alan Jackson
Feelin’ Satisfied – Boston
Five O’Clock World – the Vogues
Something Loud – Jimmy Eat World
Sugar, We’re Going Down – Fall Out Boy
Let Me Go (Rock version) – 3 Doors Down
Wagon Wheel – Darius Rucker
Hazy Shade of Winter – The Bangles
Blinding Lights – The Weeknd
Strangelove – Depeche Mode
Take me home – Phil Collins
King of the Road – Roger Miller
Neon Knights – Black Sabbath
Bitter Taste – Billy Idol
Waves – Mr. Probz
Paralyzer – Finger Eleven
Drive She Said – Stan Ridgeway
Cliffs of Dover – Eric Johnson
I’ve Been Everywhere – Johnny Cash
Mexican Radio – Wall of Voodoo
Pipeline – Ventures
Whip It – Devo
Mood For A Day – Yes
If I’d Been the One – 38 Special
A Million Miles Away – the Plimsouls
I’m Gonna Be (500 miles), The Proclaimers.
New Sensation – INXS
Live Wire – Motley Crue
The Other Side – Aerosmith
On the Road Again – Willie Nelson
Living on the Edge – Aerosmith
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
Take it Easy – The Eagles
Driver’s Seat – Sniff and the Tears
Walk, Don’t Run – The Ventures
Finish What Ya Started – Van Halen
Peace of Mind – Boston
Ain’t Talking About Love – Van Halen
Rock the Nation – Montrose
Wonderwall – Oasis
The Rover – Led Zeppelin
My Way Soon – Greta Van fleet
Into the Mystic – Van Morrison
Highway Tune – Greta Van Fleet
Walking on a Dream – Empire of the Sun
Hit the Road Jack – Ray Charles
Talk on the street – Greta Van Fleet
Lay it on the Line – Triumph
Uptown Funk– Mark Robson & Bruno Mars
Living la Vida Loca– Ricky Martin
I Need to Know – Marc Anthony
Are You Gonna Go My Way – Lenny Kravitz
Shape of You – Ed Sheeran
Bad Habits – Ed Sheeran
Classical Gas – Mason Williams
Rock Me – Great White
Holiday – Green Day
I Can’t Stop Loving You – Phil Collins
Vacation – The GoGos
Roam – The B-52s
The Pretender – Foo Fighters
Carolina in My Mind – James Taylor
Love of My Life – Jim Brickman
Louie Louie – The Kingsman
Destroyer – The Kinks
Light That Never Comes – Linkin Park
Take Me Home – Phil Collins
Every You Every Me – Placebo
2 Chairs and One Tree – Brother
Dancing with a Stranger – Sam Smith & Normani
Highway Vagabond – Miranda Lambert
Here’s the link to Spotify to add the Traveling Delanys’ Road Trip Playlist:
Did we miss any of your favorites for a road trip? Let us know in the comments!
If you’d like to read the posts about our Road Trip, click on the links below:
Part 1
https://thetravelingdelanys.com/the-call-of-the-road-part-1/
Part 2
