Drew Kennedy‘s “Open Road” is more than just another traveling song. It fits all of the right bills, being a picturesque Americana track evocative of a windswept Texas landscape in both its lyricism and sound. Yet, there is more to it than that for the New Braunfels artist.
“I like it when the universe sends you a little sign that it’s paying attention,” Kennedy says, ceding into the track’s back story. “Open Road” is the latest single from off of his upcoming record, At Home in the Big Lonesome, set to be released on November 3.
Kennedy continues:
“The morning after the first show of a lengthy tour that would eventually end in California found me walking out of my hotel room in Houston, glasses fogged over thanks to the polar opposite of dry hotel air conditioning and thick, muggy Southeast Texas air. I was kind of stuck for a few seconds — sort of blinded as I waited for my glasses to acclimate — so I killed that time by setting up a playlist for the drive. After a few seconds of consideration, I thought, ‘What the hell, I’ll just hit Shuffle All.’
“I think I have something like 8,000 songs on there, so I figured it’d be an interesting way to cruise through the collection. I got in the car and hit play as I began my trek westward. The first song that came on was Guy Clark’s ‘Cold Dog Soup’. Hours and hours later as I was pushing farther west, I hit the city limits of Monahans, Texas — Mr. Clark’s place of birth. In a moment of pure synchronicity, my iPhone shuffled to ‘Dublin Blues’, my absolute favorite song of Guy’s. As I said, I like it when the universe sends you a little sign that it’s paying attention, and that’s where the second verse of ‘Open Road’ comes from.”