For the last month, I drove from the tip of Northern California’s wine country all the way down to San Diego and the Mexican border, east to the Grand Canyon and snow in the mountains of Arizona, the sandstorms of New Mexico, the saddening cattle meat packing farms of Texas, into the wild tornadoes of Oklahoma, the eerie bible belt of Missouri and Illinois, the changing leaves of Indiana, the darkness of Ohio, through the hills of New Jersey into the skyline of the best city in this world, New York City, and all to circle back once again to the deserts of California.
Driving over 9000 miles allows the mind too much time to wander through your own fears of the unknown. Most of us travel to discover a new reality however, those we share our real stories with may never understand the extremities of what we experience.
With each new state it was exciting to see the physicality of America, but inside internally heartbreaking and somehow inspiring to feel alone with no home and no direction on the road.
“Wherever you go there you are.”
The past haunted with tantalizing ghosts motioning the road towards crashing over canyons, snow peaks, and valleys. So blinding but impossible to forget what the imagination of pain, death, and cascading into a million little pieces feels like.
Crossing through lines of so many dark moments, my eyes opened to numerous sunrises and sunsets congratulating my completion of this test, and for making it across all of these scattered paths safely.
Throughout that journey, some of the songs I listened to over and over again are now remembered as the words and music that saved me. A few artists are secrets from my favorite songs of 2011, and the rest are old timeless songs that will always be cherished.
~*~
Please enjoy!
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds : If I Had A Gun… (Self Titled, 2011)
Kathleen Edwards : Change the Sheets (Voyager, 2011)
The Head & The Heart : Down In The Valley (Self Titled, 2010)
Tori Amos : Cornflake Girl (Under the Pink, 1994)
Tom Petty : You Don’t Know How It Feels (Wildflowers, 1994)
The Civil Wars : Barton Hollow (Barton Hollow, 2011)
Coldplay : Paradise (Mylo Xyloto, 2011)
Amy Winehouse : Our Day Will Come (Lioness Hidden Treasures, 2011)
Good Old War : That’s Some Dream (Good Old War, 2010)
Feist : How Come You Never Go There (Metals, 2011)
Mazzy Star : Fade Into You (So Tonight That I Might See, 1993)
Lana Del Rey : Video Games (Jamie Woon Remix) (2011)
M83 : Midnight City (Trentemoller Remix) (2011)
3-11 Porter : Surround Me With Your Love (Mental Overdrive Remix) (2011)
Jose Padilla & Kirsty Keatch : Dragonflies (Cantoma Remix) (2011)
***Download All (.zip)***
