Road Cruisin' Music

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Noah M
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Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Noah M »

So I understand that not everybody does road cruisin for herps, but even those who don't probably have to drive some distance to and from their preferred locations, or at the very least do on some occasions. So my question is, what do you think is the best music? There is no right or wrong answer here. I joke with my wife that corn snakes don't like NPR, but do enjoy a good country boogie. I of course am making stuff up, as snakes I'm sure have no musical preference (but if any independently wealthy people out there want to fund the study, I'll be happy to spearhead this one! :lol: Anyway, I'll start on the music part of this.

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To and from the location: adult contemporary (whatever that means, the radio station calls it that and plays everything from Phil Collins to Lorde)

On the road: Windows down & the radio off with nothing but the sound of nature.
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chris_mcmartin
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by chris_mcmartin »

captainjack0000 wrote:On the road: Windows down & the radio off with nothing but the sound of nature.
Cruising with windows down depends on location, amphibian calling activity (plus), and number of insects (minus). 8-)

En route: AM radio due to the large distances I must cover.

On site: radio often doesn't reach those areas, and AM is generally unacceptable during nighttime hours (unless you luck into a station from halfway around the world due to ionospheric reflectivity), and I don't have Sirius/XM, so it's CDs. I generally prefer 80s music for the nostalgia quotient, or, if I'm having trouble staying awake, metal and industrial.
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Jeff
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Jeff »

On the road: Windows down & the radio off with nothing but the sound of
ssssSSSSFFFT Pop! as one opens a Rainier Ale tallboy.

Disclaimer: when that wasn't a problem!
Coluber Constrictor
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Coluber Constrictor »

Blind Faith
Velvet Underground & Nico
Santana "Abraxas"
Big Star "#1 Record"
CCR greatest hits comp
Orang Utan (obscure acid rock band from 1970-"Country Hike" is an awesome herpin' song)
Sleater-Kinney "the Woods"
Witchcraft-"Alchemist"

I also love old school punk rock and that sort of thing, but most of it doesn't seem appropriate in a natural setting. :lol:
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walk-about
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by walk-about »

I listen mostly to alternative, Mississippi Delta blues and old punk....but love southern rap too (Kentucky's own) Nappy Roots CD always on deck in my car as I roll the summer's night pavement and gravel. But easily my most exciting road cruise find last summer was a Kentucky Western Pygmy Rattlesnake......and yes I'll admit it was Kenny Chesney's 'She Thinks My Tractors Sexy' that was filling the summer night's sweet air. And a find that sweet, you remember every detail and every second of that detail.....and unfortunately every word.

RocK ON!!!!

Dave
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chrish
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by chrish »

If I'm driving slow its windows down and mother nature provides the music. Why wouldn't you get the whole experience while herping?

As for the drive out there with the windows up, I like lectures on tape (ipod). Just got back from doing some roadhunting while learning about modern particle physics.

I ran into a guy one night who was wearing earbuds and listening to his ipod as he walked roadcuts. Might as well be herping an expo if you are going to be that disconnected from nature. Plus there is the danger factor of not hearing what is actually going on around you.
Carl D. May
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Carl D. May »

I tend to follow chrish in these areas---I like the windows down and the outside noise as long as the bugs aren't bad. Otherwise it's usually whatever local NPR affiliate I can get. When the atmospheric conditions were right I used to like listening to WSB out of Atlanta when they were airing Braves baseball games. I could get WSB as far south as Palm Beach County late at night.

The most notable road cruising to music event that I can remember is George Benson's On Broadway. I was listening to that on April 19th, 1978 while cruising Paddock Drive in Wellington, Florida (before any houses were built and it was just miles of empty roads) when I caught my first scarlet kingsnake. It was a gorgeous 21 inch male. Oddly, the very next evening I flipped an even nicer 21 inch female just a little away from where I had come upon the male the previous night.
That pair mated and I ended up releasing the pair and the hatchlings back in Wellington.
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chris_mcmartin
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by chris_mcmartin »

Carl D. May wrote:I tend to follow chrish in these areas---I like the windows down and the outside noise as long as the bugs aren't bad.
Little bugs aren't too bad; I really don't like the May beetles ("junebugs") and other large, buzzy, sharp-legged types that tend to fly in when you open the car door (attracted to the light) and then make their presence known much later by crawling on you leg or your face. Makes for interesting driving.
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dery
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by dery »

I stick with NPR and pre-90's music-Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Hall and Oates, Jimmy Buffett, Sam Cooke, Beach Boys, DK, .....
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JAMAUGHN
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Since Dery mentioned the Clancy Brothers, I don't feel too weird mentioning that I seem to listen to a lot of Paddy Keenan when driving to and from herping areas. There's something about that sound that sounds like being outside, somehow.

JimM
mikez
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by mikez »

Probably reveals too much, but...
as a teenager, I fell in love with road trips following the Grateful Dead. Later, Dead and Garcia CDs dominated my case during my earliest and best herpin adventures.
Now four decades into it, it's like a Pavlovian response. If I'm driving along mindin my own business and a Jerry tune comes on the radio, my car involuntarily veers down the nearest dirt road and stops at a trash pile. Highway on ramps heading south are particularly hard to resist as well.
Aside from that, when traveling far from home, I like to tune into local sports radio, especially in regions where my teams are rivals.
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cbernz
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by cbernz »

I can't have music while I'm road cruising - too distracting. I think I've tried blasting frog calls out my window a couple times to get things going. If I'm just driving around in my home area I usually listen to NPR, especially when I'm tired. For some reason I find that listening to talk keeps me awake better than music. When I drive long distance, I usually have a big pile of world music CD's with me, but if I'm with friends I'll listen to whatever they want to hear. One particular thing I like to do, though, is to match my music to where I am. When I go down to the southern Appalachians, I try to tune in to a good bluegrass station. There's nothing like driving those mountain roads to good, old-time bluegrass.
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Jason B
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Jason B »

Charley Pride - The Snakes Crawl at Night. On repeat, full blast, all night.
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muskiemagnet
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by muskiemagnet »

"fly over states" - jason aldean

-ben
pops
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by pops »

"Crawlin Kingsnake" by Muddy Waters & "Fatting Frogs for Snakes" by Sonny Boy Williamson must be played at least once each night of road crusin. - dave
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Josh Holbrook
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Josh Holbrook »

Good thread...

During cruising:
-Mostly silence, but if I need to get in the herping mood:
-Home Among the Gum Trees
-The Fox (Nickle Creek)
-The Lord God Bird (Sufjan Stevens)

To:
Conversation

From:
-Dispatch
-Bob Marley
-The Love Doctors (nonpolitical talk radio, just some guys talking about stuff: http://www.wzzr.com/media/podcast-love- ... vedoctors/)
-Coast to Coast AM (good for some laughs)
Carl D. May
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Carl D. May »

Josh Holbrook wrote:Good thread...

During cruising:
-Mostly silence, but if I need to get in the herping mood:
-Home Among the Gum Trees
-The Fox (Nickle Creek)
-The Lord God Bird (Sufjan Stevens)

To:
Conversation

From:
-Dispatch
-Bob Marley
-The Love Doctors (nonpolitical talk radio, just some guys talking about stuff: http://www.wzzr.com/media/podcast-love- ... vedoctors/)
-Coast to Coast AM (good for some laughs)

Oh man! How could I have forgot Coast to Coast? Great for when driving late at night through the woods or on an interstate highway en route to a hunting location.
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intermedius
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by intermedius »

I often listen to Rock and Acoustic music (Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Yes, Cat Stevens, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, System of A Down, AC DC, Santana and Queen) however if Amphibians that vocalize are main targets I usually turn off the music.

Additionally Soundtracks from Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit.
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WSTREPS
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by WSTREPS »

When I'm cruising about the Everglades running over racoons and possums, I enjoy listening to my favorite guitar players.

Ritchie Blackmore / Eddie Van Halen / James Patrick Page / Jerry Reed / Chet Atkins / Eric Clapton / Tony Iommi / Jeff Beck / Randy Rhoads / Yngwie Malmsteen / Dimebag Darrell / Synyster Gates / Django Rhinehardt / Ry Cooder / Rory Gallagher / John 5 .... etc.

Ernie Eison
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regalringneck
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by regalringneck »

lotsa good music above id add tull/cream/csn&y/yahtayahta, ... but only when im alone on the hwy, otherwise i prefer good conversation, and the music's coming from within when im actually cruising or hiking :)
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Jefferson
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Jefferson »

When I'm headed to Appalachia, it's Bluegrass like Blue Highway, the Osborne Brothers, Balsam Range, and some Garth Brooks and classic Brook Benton (Rainy Night in GA is good for nighttime road cruises). In Michigan, it's BB King for rainy nights on the back roads and Gordon Lightfoot (preferably Gord's Gold or the United Artists Collection album). In the Lake Erie area, it's Steve Martin's bluegrass music, especially the little banjo tune called "Hide behind a rock," which is what sallies and snakes do. Best herping song for Blue Ridge Mountains--Lonesome Pine by Blue Highway; reminds me of Whitetop. Best Gordon song for road cruising is Carefree Highway by a semi-urban, as opposed to a country, mile.
Jefferson
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Jefferson
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Jefferson »

Forgot one--if I get to herp in my birth state of Texas, it would be nonstop George Strait and Stevie Ray Vaughan--Couldn't Stand the Weather.
garry
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by garry »

I can't have a radio in my Jeep, they keep getting stolen. But if I could it would be the Doors.
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chrish
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by chrish »

Carl D. May wrote:When the atmospheric conditions were right I used to like listening to WSB out of Atlanta when they were airing Braves baseball games. I could get WSB as far south as Palm Beach County late at night.
Baseball is excellent herping entertainment. I listened to the Houston Astros a lot as a teenager when herping (back when they occasionally won). I even listened to the Astros from the edge of Sumidero Canyon in Tuxtla Guttierez in Chiapas one night.
dthor68
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by dthor68 »

Good Topic!

I spend so much time in my CRV that I had to upgrade the stereo. I got a big old school Soundstream amp with some Focal speakers and one 12" sub. I rock to and from destinations. I love metal, rock, folk rock and old R&B. I guess Steely Dan and Donald Fagen is what I listen to most. Really, I listen to anything from Al Green to Metallica, Soundgarden to Alman Brothers. Occasionally, I listen to old rap and old country, but its rare.
dthor68
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by dthor68 »

chrish wrote:
Carl D. May wrote:When the atmospheric conditions were right I used to like listening to WSB out of Atlanta when they were airing Braves baseball games. I could get WSB as far south as Palm Beach County late at night.
Baseball is excellent herping entertainment. I listened to the Houston Astros a lot as a teenager when herping (back when they occasionally won). I even listened to the Astros from the edge of Sumidero Canyon in Tuxtla Guttierez in Chiapas one night.
Man I have been an Astro fan since 1979. From 79-82 I lived in Humble and never missed a single game. I either watched them on TV, listened to them on the radio or went to the Astrodome. One of the saddest days in my life was when JR Richard had to call it quits. I was 11 years old at that time and I cried myself to sleep. Another sad day was when they moved to the AL, its like they are no longer the Astros. Regardless, I am an Astro Fan for life and look forward to when they win again. With all their great prospects, it may be soon.
Carl D. May
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Re: Road Cruisin' Music

Post by Carl D. May »

dthor68 wrote:
chrish wrote:
Carl D. May wrote:When the atmospheric conditions were right I used to like listening to WSB out of Atlanta when they were airing Braves baseball games. I could get WSB as far south as Palm Beach County late at night.
Baseball is excellent herping entertainment. I listened to the Houston Astros a lot as a teenager when herping (back when they occasionally won). I even listened to the Astros from the edge of Sumidero Canyon in Tuxtla Guttierez in Chiapas one night.
Man I have been an Astro fan since 1979. From 79-82 I lived in Humble and never missed a single game. I either watched them on TV, listened to them on the radio or went to the Astrodome. One of the saddest days in my life was when JR Richard had to call it quits. I was 11 years old at that time and I cried myself to sleep. Another sad day was when they moved to the AL, its like they are no longer the Astros. Regardless, I am an Astro Fan for life and look forward to when they win again. With all their great prospects, it may be soon.

I think baseball and herping is more widespread than many will admit!
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