Beatnik writesThe Songs That Get You Through: “Windfall” by Son Volt

These are obviously strange times we are living in, so we asked some of our CHIRP volunteers to tell us about a particular song they like to listen to when things are tough. We're calling it, "The Songs That Get You Through."

DJ K-Tel, who you can hear Sundays from 12-2pm,  shared this story:

“Windfall” by Son Volt always makes me happy—especially when I remember it as the soundtrack to my epic 1997 three-week, cross-country road trip with two best friends. When Jay Farrar croons, “Both feet on the floor, two hands on the wheel / May the wind take your troubles away,” there’s nothing else to do but scream, “Hell, yeah!” while careening through the back country roads of Wyoming.

The entire Trace album was on heavy rotation, along with Grant Lee Buffalo, Uncle Tupelo, Swervedriver (and Third Eye Blind—hey, it was 1997, and “Semi-Charmed Life” was everywhere!). This was long before mobile phones, way before GPS. Armed only with a trusty Rand McNally atlas and a rough idea of where we wanted to go—west!—we were young and wide-eyed and winging it, crashing at cheap roadside motels and sleeping on floors—and experiencing 18 states and parts of Canada. When this pandemic is over, I’m seriously considering doing it all over again. With the same soundtrack.