This is a post about music. Why? Because I'm going to spend 11 days on the road, that's why!

I'm all about theme music. When I flew to California in 2005, I made up a whole playlist of all of the songs about California that I knew about and listened to it on repeat for the plane ride. But this trip is going to be longer. I want the themes to be broader.

First, I was going to post and say "Tell me every song you know that involves California!" But then I discovered the Wiki page that not only lists them all, but even has specific sub-lists for different regions (like San Francisco).

Here's the thing: I have no desire to download every single one of these songs to figure out if I love them or not. So! I am looking for song recommendations in the following categories:

1. Songs about California (ex: "Californication," "California Dreaming")
2. Songs about San Francisco
3. Artists/songs reminiscent of the following list (for the trip through South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and into California): Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynette, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash.
4. Songs about moving, traveling, changing places, seeking new things, etc.
5. Albums that conceptualize the cross-country trip (I'm thinking Scarlet's Walk here, but are there any others?)

Any recommendations?