A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about Kentucky, and in that post I pontificated on the fact that there are some places that just draw you back to them. You might think you can only have one place like that, but for me they are abundant. Kentucky is definitely one of them, the upper peninsula of Michigan is another. Colorado is a place that I have visited a couple of times already, and I can't wait to get back there one day. It's almost scary to think how many more places there are in the world that I haven't even visited once yet I know as so as I do they will be drawing me back to them.
Perhaps I have a bit more of a wandering spirit than I would like to admit. Maybe it's just a symptom of the human condition, who knows.
When I was young, my family took a camping trip out East to what is commonly referred to as "The New England States". It's comprised of states like New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, as well as a few others, most specifically Maine. Although I was much younger then, I remember many parts of that trip quite vividly. I remember the sweet acrid smell of the paper mills as we drove across from Michigan to our many destinations. I remember driving up a mountain near Bar Harbor Maine and seeing the view from Mount Cadillac. I also remember driving along the road near our campground and seeing people standing on the side of the road with barrels where they would cook the lobster they had caught that day.
Ever since we visited Maine, there has been something that has kept drawing me back there. I've been working on planning a trip with 
I think part of what draws me so much to that area of the country is the immense amount of history that is located there. It might not be as old as the stuff over across the Atlantic, but as one of the first points of landing by the more modern explorers, there is just an aura about the place. It's where dreams were developed and launched across the rest of the United States.
If you haven't figured it out yet, we are now in the "M's" as we work our way through the alphabetical list of states for #threetunetuesday sponsored by 
I've shared this song before, but there is just something I love about "King of the Road" by Roger Miller. If I were the sort of person who did Karaoke, I'd like to think that this would be my signature song. I already know all the words to it and though I have a pretty horrible singing voice, I feel like this would be a relatively easy song to nail. It's got a good vibe and it's pretty easy for people to sing along to as well.
I also love that it tells a story. In this case, it's about a fellow working and hitching rides on trains across the US. More specifically in this case, he has a destination of Bangor Maine. It also has a pretty cool bridge that takes the song in a bit different direction for just a moment. I really dig that about this tune. It's one of my favorites of his though Miller has quite a few other hits that you should check out if you get the chance. I really like how smooth his voice is and this is the kind of song that is just "cool". Like in that rat pack: Sinatra and Dean Martin kind of way.
It's not surprise in the time I have been doing my Three Tune Tuesday posts I have shared a lot of songs by Jason Isbell. He's just pretty amazing. If you have never had the chance to listen to his music, you need to stop reading this and fix that right now. I got the chance to see him live a couple of years ago when he was at a local venue. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was honestly one of the best shows I have ever seen.
Not only is he an amazing singer and songwriter, he can play the guitar like a fiend as well. I mean he flat out rocks when he wants to. There is a certain energy to his shows that can pull you in with a ballad and then melt your face off with some heavy guitar licks on a rocking tune.
"The Blue" is a song that I am not as familiar with as some of his others, but it fit really well with today's theme having both Maine and Michigan in the lyrics. I mean, I know we haven't quite gotten there yet, and I might be shooting myself in the foot on this one, but how could I not include this song? In fact, you just might hear it again in a couple weeks when we finally get to Michigan.
This last one was a tough one. There is a song by modern artist Noah Kahn that I was going to share with you today, but then I found this song by Dan Fogelberg called "The Reach", and I knew I had to include it. Although you might not recognize Dan Fogelberg by name, there is a good chance you recognize some of his hits from back in the day.
If you blink you actually miss the reference to Maine in this song, but it's right at the very beginning. The song starts out It's Maine... and it's autumn. Dan kind of reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot in a way. He was one of those singer/songwriters from back in the late 70's and early 80's. He may have not had as many hits as Lightfoot, but he still wrote some really smooth songs with poignant lyrics. As I said, you might know some of his more popular songs like "Leader of the Band", and "Same Old Lang Syne". I encourage you though to dig into him a bit more if you like both of those songs or the one that I shared with you here today.
In fact, I think I am going to make it a point to dedicate my day to both Isbell and Fogelberg today.
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