In the summer of 2006, I was between my freshman and sophomore years of college. With no job and few friends left in my home town, I spent most of the summer driving across Michigan, crashing in friends’ living rooms (or kitchen floor, in one instance), occasionally happening on open mic nights or jam sessions or campfires where the acoustic guitar in my backseat would be of use.
My vehicle in those days was a late 90s Chrysler Town & Country that I inherited from my mom when she upgraded. The once mighty stock sound system was now neutered, its CD player rendered useless. Driving between cities, finding strong (and listenable) radio stations proved impractical.
All I had was a tape deck, and a garage sale copy of James Taylor’s Greatest Hits on cassette. Such was my soundtrack for that summer, and many months in between (it may have stayed in the deck as long as two years).
And while I usually pass on Greatest Hits compilations, when I found this the other day, I had to take it—and not just for the memories.