A John Prine Playlist for the 301 Route to Philadelphia

For the drive to see Phish at The Mann in Philly last month I mapped out a route that avoids I-95 and DC via the 301 bridge from Virginia to Maryland and the Bay Bridge from Annapolis to Queenstown. To accompany this five-hour drive, I put together a John Prine playlist, selecting songs from each of the singer-songwriter's studio albums. There wasn't much curation involved as I tend to like most John Prine songs. 

Altogether it was about 115 songs totaling 6 and a half hours of music. It played the whole ride through and I never fast forwarded through any tracks and never changed it to something else. I managed to hold back the tears while quietly singing along to 99% of the words. There are not many artists or bands for whom I could assemble a playlist with over 100 songs of this caliber. 

So what do you notice after a five hour saturation of John Prine songs? Well on the obvious side he recycles melodies and themes. Days of the week come up a lot. I've been listening to John Prine for over 30 years so I knew what I was in for. Crooked Piece of Time was well placed in the mix as I desperately searched for a post 10pm parking spot in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philly. Good luck with that!

And the ride back? Well that was all Phish! Duh. Needless to say, it was a Loooooong Monday.

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