I wonder if when the next big method of music distribution comes around if people will lament the disappearance of the mp3 like they did for vinyl and the mix tape.

“Elvis Presley Blues” - Gillian Welch
From Time (the Revelator)

The first time I ever heard this song was while listening to Bloomington, Indiana's independent radio station WFHB in my car driving south down Indiana State Road 37 headed to my in-laws. I knew Gillian Welch from her work on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, but it upon hearing this song that I knew I'd become a fan.

I have made that trip down Hwy 37 on numerous occasions. My in-laws lived about 70 miles away from Bloomington and manys the time either they came up to spend the day or me and my wife would drive down and spend the day with them. Contrary to all the jokes, and sit-com plots, I have found in-laws to be nothing short of wonderful. My wife's mother and father are kind, generous, and loving people.

Home has always been more of a philosophical idea to me than an actual, physical place. As the son of a home builder I spent my formative years moving from house to house. Dad would build a new one, we'd move in and then it would sell in a a year or two. Then we'd move to a rental until dad had another house ready for us. Ad infinitum. As an adult I have perpetuated this concept and moved no fewer than 20 times.

Home is where the heart is they say, and I suppose that's true. But if home can be made of bricks and wood then for me it would look like that little house in Southern Indiana, where I have slept and ate and felt safe on so many occasions for so many years.

Like I said, we made that trip to their house many, many times. Sometimes I think my life has lived upon the road. I can remember traveling the 700 odd miles with my parents every year to visit my dad's family in Eastern Tennessee. School was a daily hour long bus ride, and later a 30 minute trip by car. I went to college, nearly 800 miles away in Alabama. As an adult, work commutes have often lasted over an hour. Visiting family and taking vacations always mean miles and miles of road. Not to mention the countless trips to the store and running errands and such like.