Gas prices are coming back down and the holidays are fast approaching. Time to hop in the car or on the motorcycle and visit the relatives. So I preset to you a soundtrack for your travels. Special thanks to the dynamic Mister Squid for his contributions to this week’s post.

I had just finished up this post when my car died on me last Friday. I couldn’t get it to the garage before they closed so I won’t know how expensive a problem it is until Monday. I like public transportation more every day. Too bad more of my clients aren’t near the train lines.

The Del McCoury Band “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (Richard Thompson)
I saw Del and his boys play last week and I must say that even if you’re not into bluegrass you should see them just to marvel at the glory that is Del’s pompadour. When they played this song Del said that Richard Thompson must have liked their version since he posed for a picture with the band.

Bobby McFerrin “Drive My Car” (The Beatles)
I can forgive Bobby McFerrin “Don’t Worry Be Happy” because of all the other amazing music he’s recorded. The guy’s a freak of nature and this is a fine example.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra “Brand New Cadillac” (The Clash)
It’s great to hear such full, brassy orchestration on a song that includes the lyric “balls to you daddy.” Particularly nice is the way the band vamps on the “Peter Gunn Theme” in the middle for no apparent reason.

Yo La Tengo “Little Honda” (The Beach Boys)
“The song pays tribute to the small Honda motorcycle and its ease of operation, specifically the Honda Super Cub.” Wikipedia can be so charmingly square sometimes.

David Lindley and Hani Naser “Mercury Blues” (K.C. Douglas)
For the last several years David Lindley has been touring around the country with just a drummer backing him up. These days his drummer is Wally Ingram, but he used to tour with Hani Naser. That was very neat because Hani did all hand drumming, which provided a very cool counterpoint to Mister Dave’s acoustic slide guitar work.