Lonesome Highway: New Horizons In The West

John Steinbeck’s Grapes Of Wrath is, quite possibly, the single greatest road trip narrative in all of American literature. His incredible story about a poor family looking for new horizons and new opportunities in the West, particularly in California, is really a tale of heart-wrenching beauty. The dust bowl and farm foreclosures push them off their land. This family from Oklahoma—Okies as they came to be called—just need a break. They need a fresh start. But instead, their grandmother dies, their car breaks down and their luck runs out.

Quite possibly the reason I love this story so much is because I lived a version of it. After finishing undergrad in Oklahoma, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. A series of fluke circumstances had landed me in the OK State and I had no intention of staying. Like so many who came before me, I pulled up roots and headed west on Highway 40, to California, to see what I might find.

As I drove through Arizona, my car broke down at 2:00 AM in the middle of nowhere, or so I thought. I spent one of the most miserable nights of my life in that little car and awoke to find myself on the edge of the Petrified Forest National Park. Lo and behold, my car actually started and I sputtered my way into the gates of the park and asked a ranger about a tow. While I waited for the tow truck, I discovered the grandeur of the West.

The park ranger had mercy on me and let me wander around the park for free (good thing because I was basically broke anyhow). In the beauty of the rising sun and before the heat of the Arizona day became unbearable, I beheld the West. Barren, dry, inhospitable and yet so full of life. Trees turned to stone. Tree rings so visible I could count them, ensconced in marble. An animal I didn’t recognize scurried across the sands. Rich colors of gold and bronze were everywhere, with hues of pink and red in the sky above. Breathtaking.

Ken Burns’ amazing documentary series—The West—resounds a notion that I’ve come to believe is a part of American mythology. The West isn’t really a place, it’s an idea. It represents freedom, a fresh start and landscapes so big and beautiful that they defy description. But it also represents trials, loss and heartache. So many go West with big dreams and an open heart. So many only find heartbreak. It’s the substance of great stories.

The Origin Story Of Lonesome Highway

In my inaugural article for Music: The Heart Of The Story, I promised you three things. First, I promised to profile one album in every article. Second, I promised to tell you where the music came from and how it came to be. Third, I promised to give you some guidance about how to use the music to tell more powerful and impactful stories. That’s why I wrote all of this music in the first place. I want it to help you be a better storyteller, someone who communicates so richly and so beautifully that your audience simply cannot resist your story.

The music for Lonesome Highway was born of pain, reflection and wonder. I knew that highway stories were important for storytellers. David Lynch seems virtually obsessed with them (Wild At Heart, Lost Highway). Easy Rider. Mad Max. Thelma and Louise. Bonnie and Clyde. Smokey and the Bandit. Paradise Highway. Almost Famous. And dare I say it—The Wizard of Oz. All of these are stories about people seeking new horizons and a better life… just down the road a ways.

But I also wanted to capture a sonic signature that reflects the complex emotions we associate with the American West. Because I’m such a word-oriented person, (my undergrad degree is in English Literature and my master’s degree is in Liberal Studies), I wanted to pick a handful of words that could serve as my true north when composing these 20 tracks. Here are the words I chose and what they mean to me:

• Yearning. This is about feeling a hunger for certain experiences and moments that we know are ahead of us, if we just keep going.
• Nostalgia. This is about longing to find something we lost that was once precious to us.
• Anticipation. This is about looking forward to something that has not yet happened but we very much want it to happen.
• Hope. This is about not giving in to despair, to believing that better days are ahead.

I could think of no better genre to convey those emotions, especially one associated with the American West, than Americana music.

Who’s In The Band?

Lonesome Highway is instrumental Americana music comprised of very few instruments. They include:

• Acoustic guitar. This is the primary instrument and it is the foundation of nearly every track. Most songs have two or three acoustic guitars playing simultaneously.
• Electric guitar. There are two electric guitars on this album. A Fender Stratocaster and a Gretsch Tennessee Rose, equipped with Filter’Tron pickups. Most of the really sweet electric guitar tones come from the Rose. She is a faithful lover who has never let me down.
• Acoustic bass. The ¾ upright bass on this project is played fingerstyle to give the album a certain warmth and body.
• Pedal steel. The shimmer and glow of pedal steel gives so many of these tracks a wistful bent. Most of the notes are slides between two different tones.
• Acoustic drums. This kit is rather small and played very quietly with several 2/4 beats on many tracks.

How To Get The Most From Lonesome Highway

If you are telling a story that includes highways, the US West as a character, simple country folk trying to find their way forward or anyone reeling from a break-up, this album will really work. If you’re showing families struggling to make it, this album wants to be a part of that story. If you have farm and rural scenes, drop it in your timeline and I’ll bet you’ll be delighted. If you need to show dreamers setting out on a journey where the outcome is uncertain, give it a spin. Lonesome Highway was purpose-built for all these types of narratives and scenes.

Most of this music is pretty quiet, so it will work quite well under dialogue. But it also works incredibly well as the lead character in montage scenes, especially when your on-screen character is reflecting back on moments passed while travelling toward their future. I find that there is an authenticity and simplicity to this music that just makes it accessible and emotive.

Wrap Up

I want to thank you again for your interest in Supernatural Sounds, our music and our unique approach. If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably felt the nostalgia, the yearning and the wistfulness that went into this project. Lonesome Highway truly is music that captures the heart of a beautiful, while often heartbreaking, story. Hopefully, more than anything else, you want to listen to this album and feel the passion that went into it. It very well could help you tell your next great American story, just like Steinbeck.