Tribune summer staffer Maggie Ybarra's top 10 road-trip songs:

• "Roam," the B-52's

• "Salisbury Hill," Peter Gabriel

• "One Night In Bangkok," Murray Head

• "Big Country," Big Country

• "Into the Great Wide Open," Tom Petty

• "Right Now," Van Halen

• "Cloudbusting," Kate Bush

• "Take to the Sky," Tori Amos

• "Angels," Within Temptation

• "Snow on the Sahara," Anggun

Five album picks from Michael Garcia, from the local band Calling Kevorkian:

• Tool, "10,000 Days" — "Because every song is good, and it passes an hour by."

• Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moon" — "Because it's like your own little soundtrack."

• Slipknot, "Slipknot" — "You always need something to keep you awake."

• Portishead, "Dummy" — "Because everyone in the car will like it."

• Sublime, "Best of Sublime" — "So everyone can sing along!"

Tribune summer staffer Nathan Mattise's top road discs, with his comments:

Albums

• "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" (self-titled debut album)

When listening to music, in general, I love anything that can be classified as "toe-tapping." When listening to music on a road-trip, this shifts to "wheel-tapping." This is the best album in recent memory for such action.

• "FutureSex/LoveSounds" Justin Timberlake

Obnoxious pop will never cease to be great music for the road.

• "Gimme Fiction," Spoon

The most convenient type of road music is an album that you can simply listen through from top to bottom and not get bored. Spoon gives you everything from "cool kid in the corner, snap my fingers" rock to "too cool to admit I miss you" type of blues.

Songs

• "Grazing in the Grass," Hugh Masekala

Classic tunes help to vary the playlist. "Grazing" gets the nod over the other two tunes here because it's an instrumental; you'll recognize that a '70s version of the song is in "Anchorman"; and it projects a windows-down-with-your-tie-loosened vibe.

• "Kissing the Lipless," the Shins

This song gets the Paul Simon-reflective genre award for best modern interpretation. The lyrics are thought-provoking, the song switches tempos from reserved and humble to brash and in your face, and heck, the Shins should be considered the class of Albuquerque's music scene.

• "1234," Feist

To add a little bit of female folk to the mix, Feist is as good as you can get in today's world. Her instrumentations are interesting and simple. The lyrics are catchy and grab your attention.

• "New Song," Tokyo Police Club

• "With Love and Squalor," We Are Scientist

What type of road trip would it be if you didn't sample some new music? Tokyo Police Club is a fresh band with a raw sound. You'd get the same new-band energy from We Are Scientists' album, but that's already a year old.

Artists

• New Pornographers

Trashy name but excellent music (and they're coming to New Mexico in September).

• Kanye West

The man gives you hooks that require you to turn the volume up.

• Paul Simon

The alternative to bobbing my head while I cruise down Tramway is the self-reflective, mildly philosophical, relaxing genre. Take the "Graceland" album if you want a whole collection or "Loves Me Like a Rock" if you want one classic tune.

Keyboardist/vocalist Marsh Shamburger of Albuquerque band Soular reveals what the band is listening to between gigs:

• Johnny Cash's "Greatest Hits"

• Ryan Adams, "Heartbreaker"

• Blonde Redhead, "23"

• Philip Glass, "The Illusionist Soundtrack"

• Steve Miller Band, "Fly Like an Eagle"

• Led Zeppelin

Soular is in the middle of a long road trip that brings them to Journal Pavilion on July 15.

Zac Webb and Juliet Swango from Albuquerque band the Foxx serve up their best of the road:

• Slade, "In flame"

• The Ark, "Prayer for the Weekend"

• The Runaways, "Live in Japan" — "A tour/road trip list is incomplete without an album documenting another group's voyage. This is a particularly shining example."

• Various artists, "Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, funk & reggae (1967-1974)"

• Motorhead, "No Sleep Till Hammersmith" — "If I was ever asked to declare a theme song for the Foxx," Zac says, "it would be without a doubt `We Are the Roadcrew.' "

• The Clash, "Sandinista"

• Big Star, "Radio City" — "The calming record."

• Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, "Naturally"

• Dusty Springfield, "I Only Want to Be With You"

• The Kids, "S/T" — "Three chords, dumb lyrics, insanely catchy and Belgian."

• Nikki and the Corvettes, "Girls, Girls, Girls"

• The Dictators, "Bloodbrothers" — "The drunk summertime feel-dumb record."

The Foxx is planning its own CD release party for the band's second full-length album, "Lila," on Aug. 3 at the Launchpad.

Claude Stephenson, 54, is New Mexico's state folklorist.

He's also a professional musician, a member of the New Mexico Music Commission, a music programmer for KUNM-FM (89.9) and a host of KUNM's Saturday morning "Folk Routes" show:

As state folklorist, I average between 40,000 and 50,000 miles a year driving around the state.

The music I listen to depends on driving conditions. I'll listen to something completely different on open back roads than I will on 18-wheeler-packed I-40 or stuck in traffic at the Big-I.

Open-road music

• "Drive," Bela Fleck. Favorite cuts are "The Open Road," "Slipstream" and "Whitewater."

• "The Road Is a Lover," Alison Krauss and Union Station.

• "Tennessee Fluxedo," Beware of hard-driving bluegrass songs, as you will tend to exceed the speed limit.

• "Highway Patrol," Junior Brown. Just to remind myself to slow down.

Heavy-traffic music

• "People on the Highway," Pentangle. Puts the situation into perspective for me.

• "Spinning World," "Hand of Man" and "Living in Babylon," Heartbeats Rhythm Quartet. Good music for dodging my fellow cell-phone-addicted commuters.

• "Crosstown Traffic," Jimi Hendrix. Good while parked on I-25 during the inevitable Montaño/Montgomery rush-hour backup.

• "Heavy Traffic Ahead," Bill Monroe. Makes you smile in spite of your predicament.

White-knuckle music

• "Morning Dew," Altan.

• "Paddy Fahey's Jig," Martin Hayes.

• "A Stór Mo Chroí," Dervish.

• "One Winter's Night," Strength in Numbers.

The first two have an instant, calming effect on my brain, the last two have gotten me through many a stressful storm.

Tribune staffer B.K. Page adds this postscript postcard:

On the road trip from Yakima, Wash., to my new job in Albuquerque in December 1981, I made the mistake of stopping in Sacramento, Calif., to see an old boyfriend. I fell madly, badly, in love again.

For the rest of the trip, down California and across wintry Arizona, I played just one song on the cassette recorder hooked up to the cigarette lighter in my battered Datsun:

Juice Newton, "The Sweetest Thing I've Ever Known (Is Loving You)"

Yes, I had to stop the tape, rewind and replay. And replay and replay. The heart can ride forever on one, schlock song.