There and Back

4 hours ago

It's official, we are finally halfway through the list of states in alphabetical order. Montana is another one of those states that I have never been to, but I can imagine what it might be like based on what I have heard and read. My parents drove through Montana a long time ago when they finally fulfilled their dream of traveling out west.

They took a couple of weeks and traveled through the upper peninsula of Michigan and then further as they headed towards Glacier National Park. I remember my dad talking about how much nothing there was driving across Montana and how the speed limits reflected that. A quick look via Google tells me that two lane roads in rural Montana have a speed limit of something like 80 miles per hour. Okay, that might be a little high, but it is still close.

I drive 80 MPH on the expressway every day on the way to work and back. That's a four lane divided road. I can't imagine flying down a two lane road at 80 MPH. I only got that fast on two lane roads when I am passing someone that is going excruciatingly slow and I am trying to make a point.

I do hope I get the chance to visit Montana myself one day. Even if there is a whole lot of nothing over that way, I always enjoy visiting new states and exploring new areas of the country. I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that I may never make it out of the US, but even if I don't, there is a ton of stuff that I will probably never see here. The country is just that big and my time here is increasingly short.

I thought covering Montana for #threetunetuesday sponsored by @ablaze was going to be a tough order, but it turns out the songs just kind of fell into my lap as I started looking for them. @thebighigg was joking with me last week that I was definitely going to be sharing three country songs this week for this post. Which could have easily been true, but then I felt a bit compelled to try and think outside the box a little bit.

Oddly enough, this might be the first ever post in this series where all of the songs have the same title, which is simply the word Montana. There was a really good song with Montana in the title by John Denver that I was going to share, but then as I said, these other three songs just kind of fell into my lap.

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The first one is certainly country as it is sung by none other than Lukas Nelson who would be the son of none other than Willie Nelson. If you have never dug into his work, you really need to do yourself a favor and do that. His albums with his band Promise of the Real are really awesome. He has some songs that you have likely heard in different TV shows or movies but you never realized it.

In fact, he was a key part of the musical stuff for the recent remake of A Star is Born and he was a personal coach to Bradley Cooper for his part in the movie. "Montana" is a pretty simple song by him, but the lyrics are good and the vibe is kind of mellow and chill. This official video shows that there is a lot more to Montana than just long roads with high speed limits.

It's funny too because although Lukas has a very distinct voice, there are often times you can hear a hint of his dad in his tone or phrasing. Especially in his earlier work. Anyway, there you go, that is your first Montana song for the day.

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The second song with the title of "Montana" comes from a guy you may have never heard before unless you remember every single post I have ever written. Don't worry, I'm not judging you. Bob Schneider is a singer I discovered a long long time ago on their Austin City Limits or some PBS show that I would occasionally listen to on the radio. If that gives you an idea of just how long Bob has been around. I remember he had this really funny song about Batman and though it wasn't available at the time on an album, you could often find live recordings of him playing it.

Schneider has a good way of mixing funny lyrics as well as deeply insightful ones. His vibe is really smooth and the album "I'm Good Now" is still probably one of my absolute favorites, though "Lonelyland" is good too. This song comes from the album "Love is Everywhere"

Anyway, if you like what you hear here, you should definitely check out more of Bob's stuff. He has a lot of albums on Spotify or whatever your streaming preference is.

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While the last song was by an artist I have been following forever, this last song is by an artist that I only recently discovered. This song called "Montana" is by Chance Pena and he showed up on my playlists via the Spotify algorithm several months ago. He has a really great voice that kind of reminds me of Noah Kahan or Ray LaMontagne with that whole singer/songwriter vibe.

You are going to be hard pressed to find a lot of stuff from Pena. While he does have a couple of full length albums, a lot of the stuff out there is from EPs. It looks like he was on a several reality singing shows like The Voice, but didn't finish in the top. It's kind of funny now many artists have been on The Voice and maybe didn't win, but later blew up to be absolutely huge. I'm looking at you Morgan Wallen.

So there you go, maybe next time you are on a long road trip you can imagine you are driving across Montana and listen to these songs inspired by that state!