Continental Drifters – Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway

I love finding bands like this. The Continental Drifters remind me that some of the best music never reaches the Top 40. This song has the sound of musicians who have nothing left to prove and are simply making the music they believe in. If you like The Band, The dB’s, or early Americana, I think you’ll find yourself coming back to this song again. I listened to two of their albums and you get a variety. You get female-driven songs like this, and you get male-driven songs like Mezzanine.

The band is made up of musicians who had already built impressive careers, including Susan Cowsill of The Cowsills, Vicki Peterson of The Bangles, The Dream Syndicate, Peter Holsapple of The dB’s, and several outstanding New Orleans musicians like Carlo Nuccio, a great New Orleans drummer and singer/songwriter. Everyone in the band could write songs, sing, and play multiple instruments, which gave them a rich sound without ever becoming cluttered. They never became a hit band, but musicians and critics knew just how special they were. Although they formed in Los Angeles, they eventually settled in New Orleans, and you can hear both musical worlds in their sound.

Some songs grab you the first time you hear them, and then some songs slowly work their way into your head. This one did that for me. I was drawn in by the title first. Then the guitars kicked in, and it had that loose, rootsy sound that reminds me of The Band. It feels like you’re riding down an endless highway with the windows down, even though the story underneath isn’t nearly as carefree.

The song was written by guitarist Vicki Peterson, formerly of The Bangles, and she also takes the lead vocal. She based it on a difficult cross-country trip with fellow band member Gary Eaton during a time when their relationship was coming apart. Instead of writing a typical breakup song, she wrapped it in the image of traveling across America. The result is a song that sounds hopeful on the surface but carries just enough sadness to make it memorable.

Without a major label, they released a song as a single in 1997. It served as a preview of the sound that would soon appear on Vermilion, the album that many fans consider their masterpiece.

I also wanted to give you another song by them called Mezzanine. Carlo Nuccio, a great New Orleans drummer, singer/songwriter, wrote this song and is singing the lead vocal.

Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway

It took two hours to drive out of post-quake l.a.
Where the freeway is sliced up like sheet cake
Got new tires I’m not gonna worry
Got three days to go so I’m not in a hurry
Get into tucson and what do I find
I’m having some trouble just keeping my mind
On the 10.

Driving by that detour we took
To watch the sunset at the scenic overlook
The light was lovely but to my surprise
The most violent colors were in your eyes
All the reds and yellows, black and blue
It’s what I remember from driving with you
On the 10.

On the 10.

Whoa oh, white noise and lightening
Ooooo on the radio, oh no.

Looking up a tree like a georgia o’keefe
And the texas stars are in high relief
University road, you think I’d have learned
So many new ways to get bitten and burned
At the devil’s river inn at three a.m.
Hey, give me those keys I gotta get
Back on the 10.

On the 10.

Whoa oh, white noise and lightening
Ooooo on the radio, go robert, go!

Feeling unbound of heart and breast
Got the visor down and I’m headed west
A little wiser now, I’m unimpressed
By the secret you and I confessed
On the 10 (whoa oh).

On the 10 (whoa oh)
On the 10 (whoa oh)
On the 10 (whoa oh).