I personally am up for a road trip pretty much any waking moment of any day, but there’s something about summer that calls for a nice long drive to some undiscovered-to-you location. Maybe it’s that putting the windows down and turning the music up feeling that you can only achieve in the summer time, or the bare feet and wet hair beach vibes…but something about the hot sun puts me in the mood to jump in the car and just go!

I have lived my whole life road tripping from Atlanta to Chicago for the holidays, and I’ll be posting soon about my latest road trip north that I took earlier this summer with a friend. I love the feeling of being on the open road, and really recognizing how far from home you are. I mean, come on…I’ve flown from Atlanta to Paris in nine hours, but it takes twelve to drive to Chicago! It puts things in perspective.

Boredom can strike at any moment, though, and one of my favorite ways to combat that is to put together a personally curated list of tunes! I almost always try to have some kind of playlist ready to go when I leave for a trip, and a lot of times it’s in CD form—yes, I live in the Stone Age still. Occasionally, when I don’t have hours to surf the web and handpick individual songs for a playlist, I have resorted to choosing an album that I haven’t yet listened through (or one I’m currently obsessing over) and listening to that in order to pass the time. I once rented a convertible and drove from Las Vegas to Death Valley National Park and brought everything Mumford and Sons has ever written, once again, in CD form. On my most recent road trip to Chicago, it had been a while since I had spent an extended period of time with the lovely lady who accompanied me, and we drove for NINE WHOLE HOURS before even turning on the radio!! I have always been a firm believer in long drives as a way to get to know (or catch up with) people better.

Everyone knows the road trip hits like Don’t Stop Believing and Bohemian Rhapsody, so I tried to include some songs on this list that you won’t necessarily find on other playlists, but didn’t skimp on my favorites! This isn’t just some list I wrote for the Internet—I will be happily listening to this mix on my next trip.

So, without further ado, here is my latest list of jams for your Fourth of July drive!

 

57 Songs for Your Next Road Trip

1. Here Comes the Sun—The Beatles

2. Gimme Shelter—The Rolling Stones

3. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough—Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

4. Go Big or Go Home—American Authors

5. Babel—Mumford and Sons

6. Long Way from Home—The Lumineers

7. Rise—Eddie Vedder

8. Proud Mary—Creedance Clearwater Revival

9. My Body—Young the Giant

10. Come Together—The Beatles

11. Space Oddity—David Bowie

12. Stuck in the Middle with You—Steelers Wheel

13. King of the Road—Roger Miller

14. Awake My Soul—Mumford and Sons

15. Just Breathe—Pearl Jam

16. American Pie—Don McLean

17. I Want to Break Free—Queen

18. Yellow Submarine—The Beatles

19. Piano Man—Billy Joel

20. Hopeless Wanderer—Mumford and Sons

21. Alive—Pearl Jam

22. December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night!)—Frankie Valli and Four Seasons

23. You Can’t Always Get What You Want—The Rolling Stones

24. With a Little Help from my Friends—The Beatles

25. Somebody to Love—Queen

26. The Cave—Mumford and Sons

27. Up Around the Bend—Creedance Clearwater Revival

28. Start Me Up—The Rolling Stones

29. Peaceful Easy Feeling—The Eagles

30. Help!—The Beatles

31. Don’t Stop Me Now—Queen

32. The Wolf—Mumford and Sons

33. Wake Up—Arcade Fire

34. Kings and Queens—30 Seconds to Mars

35. This is Gospel—Panic! At the Disco

36. Something to Believe In—Young the Giant

37. Day Tripper—The Beatles

38. Dog Days are Over—Florence and the Machine

39. There Will be Time—Mumford and Sons

40. Satisfaction—The Rolling Stones

41. Lost in My Mind—The Head and the Heart

42. Ticket to Ride—The Beatles

43. Ho Hey—The Lumineers

44. Tompkins Square Park—Mumford and Sons

45. Cough Syrup—Young the Giant

46. Lover’s Eyes—Mumford and Sons

47. Dock of the Bay—Otis Redding

48. Hooked on a Feeling—Blue Swede

49. Budapest—George Ezra

50. Stand By Me—Ben E. King

51. Home—Phillip Phillips

52. Step Out—Jose Gonzalez

53. Below My Feet—Mumford and Sons

54. Hard Sun—Eddie Vedder

55. Send Me on My Way—Rusted Root

56. Let it Be—The Beatles

57. I Will Wait—Mumford and Sons

Listen to this playlist here.

I have created this exact playlist on Spotify for your listening enjoyment! So if you’re like me and scrambling to put something together for your next drive, I have made things as easy as possible for you! Let me know what you think of the playlist—what songs would you add?

Happy Independence Day!