National Park Soundtrack Volume 5
Continuing the road trip!
Happy Wednesday! I just wanted to thank ya’ll for reading this every week and making these some of my most successful articles!
You know the drill, so here’s last week’s NPS:
Let’s kick off week 5!
Petrified Forest National Park: “Camisado” by Panic! At The Disco
This was one of two suggestions by David Acaster from last week.
If you’ve been reading these since the beginning, you know I tend to associate deserts with rock music. This one is no different, but with a mysterious name, like Petrified Forest, I wanted something kind of spooky and weird.
I fell onto the album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out by Panic! At The Disco, and realized anything from that album would be solid, but when I saw “Camisado” and knew I definitely had the right pick.
“Camisado” has that classic punk rock sound I associate so heavily with the desert, and a weird enough intro and verses to represent the strange beauty of Petrified Forest National Park.
Canyon De Chelly National Monument: “Little Adobe Shack” by Stringbean
Canyon De Chelly was the other suggestion given by David Acaster last week, and it’s a pretty one for sure!
I initially was looking for something western sounding, but when I saw the ruins of these old houses, I began to drift to “Little Adobe Shack.”
Even though these aren’t exactly adobes, I love this song and I think it works well anyway.
I watched Stringbean on Hee-Haw growing up, and a while back I got to hankerin’ for some of his solo music. I found the album; Way Back In The Hills Of Old Kentucky, and gave it a listen. “Little Adobe Shack” was one of my favorites from that record, but it seems like a vague deep cut, as I can’t find any videos on YouTube of it!
I think it fits super well with these ruins of days gone by.
It’s not as pretty as a YouTube link, but I managed to find it on Spotify!
Biscayne National Park: “It’s Five O’ Clock Somewhere” by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett
Much like “Ring Of Fire” last week; this one just felt like an easy layup.
I knew pretty much from the get-go that as soon as I hit a beachy national park, this was going to be the song for it. I briefly considered “Long Way To Go” by Alan Jackson as well, but I had to go with this classic.
I don’t think there’s any song to better represent the feeling of going to the beach, kicking your feet up, and having a drink, than this one.
Alan Jackson is one of the all-timers, and this is definitely one of the songs people will be playing at beach parties for years to come.
Shenandoah National Park: “Shenandoah” by Tennessee Ernie Ford
This one was kinda easy, but I was very torn between this, and “Country Roads” by John Denver.
I believe “Shenandoah” and it’s sound represent the park more-so than “Country Roads.” It just feels like a much more lonely, and remote song than the warmth of “Country Roads.”
The soulful, passionate sound that Ford delivers on this track immediately makes me want to drop everything, go to Shenandoah, and hike 20 miles back in the mountains where nobody will ever find me, and set up camp on a cliffside.
The atmosphere of the song is unrivaled.
Virginia is such a beautiful state, and I think this song captures the beauty of it, and Shenandoah National Park, perfectly.
Gates Of The Arctic National Park: “The End Of The World” by Skeeter Davis
I think this is one of the prettiest parks I’ve covered to date. I love this one, so I wanted to pick a pretty song, that was close to my heart, and still made sense.
I chose “End Of The World” because it’s one of my favorite old songs, and I love Skeeter Davis; but also because when I hear “Gates Of The Arctic,” it sounds very apocalyptic to me. Like if you enter those gates, you’ll fall off the earth.
The song has a very lonesome sound as well, and this park looks super, super remote, and lonely. I think it would be a beautiful experience to sit in this wilderness alone, and have this song playing on an 8-track or portable radio.
The general vibe of the song just fits so well. I have the song playing while I’m looking through photos of the park, and it’s so seamless.
Well, thanks for reading yet another NPS!
As always, feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think about my picks! Give me some more suggestions as well, if you’d like!
