if a song could get me you

I am poaching some free wireless at a gas station truckstop somewhere off Highway 70 cutting across the center of this great, flat land. I’ve been on the road for over a week for work, getting real familiar-like with all that Missouri (and Kansas) have to offer. I’ve had a tremendous time doing things like watching a Royals ballgame Wednesday (with fountains and waterfalls!) and a Cardinals game tonight in St. Louis, drinking a whole heck of a lot of Boulevard Brewery‘s limited edition beers while brushing up on my Saved By The Bell trivia with some genius cohort friends, going for night runs and unsuccessfully trying to outrace the mosquitoes, and melting –nay, dissolving– into a sticky pile in this humidity. My hair votes for never moving to the Midwest in summer. Oh! And I also ate Jack Stack’s BBQ for lunch today, and saw armadillo roadkill (not related).

Roadtrips also mean vast and fabulous swaths of uninterrupted time to catch up on all that music I want to listen to with each breathing moment, but which instead somehow shuffles itself into corners and under car seats and in stacks (and stacks) of promo CDs by my bed. About two hours ago I unearthed and popped in the newest album from Norway’s Marit Larsen and I have been happily stuck on it since. It’s actually from her 2008 album The Chase but was just released as a single in the States in January. I woke up in a ridiculously good mood today, and this song couldn’t sound more perfect.

I first heard Marit four years ago on Fluxblog, and her irresistible harmonica and handclap-laden ode to a breakup “Only A Fool” was one of my favorite 20 songs that whole first year of Fuel/Friends. I believe I put that on a running mix too (the music is all plucky, even though the lyrics are biting) and cuing it up even today it still sounds as unspoiled. What I have always loved about Marit is something undefinable in her voice which just radiates a sterling, approachable honesty. Her Scandinavian take on Americana music evokes hints of Nina Persson or even Lisa Loeb (with a banjo), and it’s sweet but never saccharine.

I’ll never grow tired of a really good pop song to soundtrack the yellow lines flickering past, the hot sunshine, and the miles and miles of open expanse. This song may or may not have gotten her the man, but it’s completely snagged me.

Put this one on your summer mix.

If A Song Could Get Me You – Marit Larsen

…and why not — for excellent measure:

Only A Fool – Marit Larsen