Your Desert Drive Mix

My wife and I are celebrating our 15th anniversary later this month with a trip to San Antonio. From there, we're renting a car to drive to Marfa, TX. I need some epic west texas/desert theme music for the drive. Any suggestions?

Calexico - "El Picador"
Richmond Fontaine - "Moving Back Home"

Yeah, Calexico was the first thing that sprang to mind for me too. Some Explosions in the Sky would probably work, too. Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Tin Pan Alley" might be nice.

Not really Texas-style, but I think somehow The Doves' "Kingdom of Rust" would give you the right feel.

I'd be a bit partial to some Stan Ridgway (Lonely Town, Goin' South Bound) and some early Wall of Voodoo (Call of The West, Lost Weekend). Clinic would blend in nicely with the aforementioned band from all too.

Have fun.

Oh, man- plenty of ZZ Top would fill the bill. Tejas, Rio Grande Mud. The cover for El Loco even has them in some sand. :biggrin5:

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Asleep In The Desert is one, but you might not want to be driving during that one. :hand:

Taking care of things at work and at home didn't leave me much time to put my desert comp together before we left so I relied on the familiar (but not too familiar) and came up with a mix that my necessary travel companion, i.e., my wife (it was our anniversary trip, after all), and I enjoyed.

1. Fireball - The Fireballs (great tex-mex instrumental with lotsa slapback reverb which can be found on their album Bull Dog and on a compilation called Rockabilly for a Summer's Day - have to be careful because an online search revealed that there is another song called Fireball attributed to The Fireballs with vocals which sux.)
2. The Black Light - Calexico from The Black Light
3. Clap Hands - Tom Waits from Rain Dogs
4. Paper Tiger - Beck from Sea Change
5. Hell is Chrome - Wilco from A Ghost is Born
6. Girl from the North Country - Dylan (w/Johnny Cash) from Nashville Skyline
7. Bewitched - Luna from Luna Live
8. Gravity Rides Everything - Modest Mouse from The Moon & Antarctica
9. Fade into You - Mazzy Starr from So Tonight That I Might See
10. Fool to Cry - The Rolling Stones from Black and Blue
11. Jockey Full of Bourbon - Tom Waits from Rain Dogs
12. St. James Infirmary - Louis Armstrong from Satchmo Plays King Oliver
13. Folsom Prison Blues (Live) - Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison
14. I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) - Elvis Presley From Elvis in Memphis
15. Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies from The Trinity Session
16. Dark Center of the Universe - Modest Mouse from The Moon & Antarctica
17. Ashes of American Flags - Wilco from YHF
18. Menas de Cobre (For Better Metal) - Calexico from The Black Light
19. Tango Till They're Sore - Tom Waits from Rain Dogs

You may notice that I really like Rain Dogs right now. I made another version which substituted in various places the following:

Far Away Eyes - The Rolling Stones from Some Girls
Lodi Dodi - Snoop Dogg from Doggystyle
Unreal - UNKLE from Psyence Fiction
Dirty Harry - Gorillaz from Demon Dayz
Misunderstood - Wilco from Being There

It didn't flow as well.

Although they're not all tex-mex, most of the tunes are "epic" in some way or another which complimented the vistas and epic scenery we observed on our 5 1/2 hour drive from San Antonio to Marfa. Of course two or three more epic comps would have been even better. Fortunately, our rental had an auxillary jack for the iPod so all was well. Once we arrived, a little outlaw country hit the spot.

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Originally Posted by dean_martin

...Although they're not all tex-mex, most of the tunes are "epic" in some way or another which complimented the vistas and epic scenery we observed on our 5 1/2 hour drive from San Antonio to Marfa.

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Yea, that looks a pretty cool mix. I've had one bouncing around my player after reading your post awhile back, some of the same artists, probably a bit different mood though. A little long, and maybe roams a bit too much, didn't get around to working much on the sequence, and a couple songs need to be boosted a touch, and it could benefit from some time on the road, but still has a little magic ...

Various - [Desert Roads #01] Mark Lanegan-Sunrise
Various - [Desert Roads #02] OP8 - Cracklin' Water
Various - [Desert Roads #03] Laika - Lower Than Stars
Various - [Desert Roads #04] Mazzy Star - Halah
Various - [Desert Roads #05] Jessica Bailiff - Firefly (We Could Be Free)
Various - [Desert Roads #06] Olivia Tremor Control - Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3
Various - [Desert Roads #07] Sparklehorse - Someday I Will Treat You Good
Various - [Desert Roads #08] Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain
Various - [Desert Roads #09] Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left
Various - [Desert Roads #10] Sixteen Horsepower - Low Estate
Various - [Desert Roads #11] Three Mile Pilot - Jadulastan Requiem
Various - [Desert Roads #12] Palace Music - More Brother Rides
Various - [Desert Roads #13] Giant Sand - Glum
Various - [Desert Roads #14] PJ Harvey - The Dancer
Various - [Desert Roads #15] Songs Ohia - I've Been Riding With the Ghost
Various - [Desert Roads #16] Red Red Meat - Oxtail
Various - [Desert Roads #17] Richard Buckner - Song Of 27
Various - [Desert Roads #18] Tracker - Great Sea (It Sank Me)
Various - [Desert Roads #19] Ugly Cassanova - Smoke Like Ribbons
Various - [Desert Roads #20] Wheat - Body Talk (Part 1)
Various - [Desert Roads #21] Wheat - Body Talk (Part 2)

Hate to be crass but those both look like great mixes. Anybody sharing? hint hint...

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Originally Posted by noddin0ff

Hate to be crass but those both look like great mixes. Anybody sharing? hint hint...

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Thought you'd never ask! Once they finish uploading to my dropbox, I'll post a link. The opening instrumental track could be a little better quality. My copy is on vinyl. I looked high and low on the internet to find a digital copy to purchase. Found it at CD Universe.

Maybe this'll work:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fh984hkt2zo4ny8/1D7f4Nr1Ao

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Originally Posted by noddin0ff

Anybody sharing? hint hint...

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https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Publi...c9TJK8vrQuMPcw

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Originally Posted by Davey

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Publi...c9TJK8vrQuMPcw

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Thanks, Dean I'll be giving that a listen soon.

Davey, I can't seem to get a download to work from your link. 403 error comes up. I *think* that may mean that the link is asking for a download of a directory, which doesn't usually work. However if you zip the directory and then link to download the zip file, that works. Just a guess.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by noddin0ff

Thanks, Dean I'll be giving that a listen soon.

Davey, I can't seem to get a download to work from your link. 403 error comes up. I *think* that may mean that the link is asking for a download of a directory, which doesn't usually work. However if you zip the directory and then link to download the zip file, that works. Just a guess.

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It's a 615M zip file which contains 21 tagged flac files in a folder. Initially I just right-clicked and copied the dropbox link, and it worked fine for me, but looking at it now I see it isn't my normal link and does have extra folders in the path so maybe it's only accessible by me and not the public link ... try the one below instead - it looks more like my normal dropbox public link ... sorry, should've paid more attention.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22278349/Var...rt%20Roads.zip

Yep. That worked. Thanks a bunch!