National Park Soundtrack Volume 1
A song for each National Park!
Hello, and welcome to a new series where I will be assigning random national parks a song that fit their vibe!
The order of parks will be random, and some will make more sense than others.
Without further ado let’s just get started!
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: “Smoky Mountain Memories” by Larry Sparks
This is one of the ones that makes a lot of sense.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one that I have been to many times. This song is a very significant one to me personally; every time we went on vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains, my Dad would bring his Larry Sparks CD and play this over and over. When I hear it, it always brings me back to those days driving through Cade’s Cove or Gatlinburg.
The song is a perfect compliment to the beautiful mountains, featuring a lovely Tennessee bluegrass arrangement and the beautiful, authentic voice of Larry Sparks. The lyrics are beautifully descriptive and just capture the essence of the beautiful Smoky Mountains in Eastern Tennessee.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park: “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse
I can’t tell if this one makes zero sense, or a ton of sense. I originally picked this one because I just thought the vibe fit well, but then I realized the name could be describing a cave so it works.
I wanted a rock song that sounded eerie, but not overly so. I landed on “Supermassive Black Hole” because I think it works perfectly. The rock sound fits the overall desert aspect of the park outside of the caves, while the whiny, almost wispy delivery, is weird and otherworldly enough to fit the inside of the caverns.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the only one I’ve actually been to, so I can’t attest to the actual vibe of being there in person, but this is kind of what I feel from the pictures.
Yellowstone National Park: “Big Gold Mine” by Charley Crockett
This one is a bit vague but something about it really just clicks. All I could think of for Yellowstone was western music, but not like, super western music.
My mind landed on Charley Crockett, and I originally picked a different song, but “Big Gold Mine” came on afterwards and it fit so much better than the other one so I changed it at the last second.
Something about the pace of it just feels like what I’d want on a drive through the park. Fast paced, but not too fast paced. Western, but not too western.
The name also fits really well, as there is said to plenty of gold in the water and ground in Yellowstone. There have been several attempts to place “big gold mine(s)” around Yellowstone but they have luckily been struck down pretty quickly in court.
Mount Rainier National Park: “After The Storm” by Kali Uchis (feat. Tyler, The Creator and Bootsy Collins)
I chose this one because the song has kind of a flowery theme about it, and Mount Rainier National Park just looks like it has lots of flowers. Washington reminds me of Seattle and Seattle reminds me of rain, so “After The Storm” fits that vibe.
I immediately thought of Tyler, The Creator on this one, I guess because of his nickname as “Flower Boy.” Either way his music just fits this vibe, and as I was looking through his stuff, I remembered this song. I immediately realized that even though it wasn’t technically his song, it would probably be the best for it.
Kali’s heavenly voice paired up with Bootsy Collins’ smooth narration would be gorgeous to drive through Mount Rainier to. Then when Tyler’s verse comes on you’d just have to bob your shoulders and admire the flowers in bloom.
Denali National Park: “Alaska” by Maggie Rogers
Another pretty obvious one here I suppose. Denali is in Alaska and when I saw all the streams and such in the photos I just couldn't help but think of this beautiful, unique song by Maggie Rogers.
I’m honestly kind of bummed because if I do more of these lists I can’t just re-use this one for every Alaskan National Park. It is just so perfectly fitted to them. Just the opening line alone is perfect.
“I was walking through icy streams that, took my breath away”
The strange beat behind the track that I would label as an almost submissive disco just thumps around and works so well. I could see this being listened to anywhere in nature really, but seeing as how it’s named after Alaska, it best works for a National Park located there
Thanks for reading! What did you think of these picks? Do you have any songs you think would fit these parks as well? Would you want to see me do a few more of these? If so, recommend me your favorite National Park!
