Music Road Trips in the USA: Eight Routes Through Towns That Sing

You hear it before you see it. A screen door slaps shut, and a bass line leaks onto the sidewalk at dusk, low and unhurried. You stand there with your keys still in your hand while the plan for the night rearranges itself around one doorway.

Music road trips across the USA come down to that moment. You pick a route for the cities, and years later you remember one room: the small one, the one where the band was better than the room had any right to expect.

These are eight routes built around that moment, from the Berkshires to northern New Mexico, with Nashville, Memphis, Chicago and New Orleans along the way. Each lists its stops, its nights and the months it suits. Filter by the sound you're after, sort the table, or read straight down the page.

• 8music routes
• 72days, if you drove all eight
• 46stops, in 35 different cities
• 15states