Various Artists - Lost Highways American Road Songs 1920s-1950s

Drive time radio hour

The road trip has long been a staple of American art. Jack Kerouac wrote about it, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda filmed it, and Edward Hopper painted it; but it’s music that really brought the metaphors to life.

Whether Faustian deals at crossroads, cross-country searches for the “real America” or the rite de passage of adolescence, the road, in all its evil and opportunity, has insistently become the soundtrack to the American way of life. Viper loves to capture the small pockets – the essences – of America, and here they’ve compiled a healthy mix of both the sanguinity and desolation that characterised the road song.

Most tracks come from the likely blues canon, which is no bad thing, apart from leaving little room for surprise. King of the Delta blues Robert Johnson treads oh-so-familiar territory with Cross Road Blues, which is as good here as it’s ever been. Johnny Cash is in fine lament on Wide Open Road, and Woodie Guthrie is “a-goin’ to the place where water tastes like wine” on Going Down The Road & Feeling Bad. Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin’ Wolf, Amos Milburn, and Nat “King” Cole also feature on what is another outstanding drive through quintessential American culture by Viper.

Viper | CD 054

Reviewed by Laith Al-Kaisy
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