Travel to Listen: The Spacey, Sunbaked Rock of California's Mojave Desert
About this episode
Tim Chester explores the Mojave Desert's influence on rock music and its unique cultural landscape.
Welcome to "Travel to Listen," a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it’s the shortcut to a place’s soul. This week, he heads into the high desert of Southern California to find out why the Mojave has been spawning some of rock’s most original sounds for decades. Along the way, he discovers a landscape that’s every bit as wild and inspiring as the music it produces. In this episode What “desert rock” actually means—and how the Mojave Desert’s extreme heat, isolation, and silence forged a uniquely sun-baked, heavy sound that’s impossible to replicate anywhere else The family tree of the genre: from Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age to Fu Manchu and a sprawling network of bands centered around Joshua Tree and 29 Palms The Mojave Experience, a two-day desert rock festival organized by Patrick Brink of the band Volume—and his plans to bring it back bigger next year Why the California desert has drawn musicians, filmmakers, and creatives for decades: from Gram Parsons’ storied final days—and why Roc Gardner left New York to build a…
More episodes of Unpacked by Afar
- Beyond the Wing: How Buffalo's Food Scene Quietly Became One of America's Best
- Following the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail—and the Story It Left Out
- Queer Travel Is About Joy, Not Just Safety
- Travel to Listen: Everyone Knows Motown. Not Everyone Knows Its Story
- Feel-Good Friday: The Viral World Cup Food Obsession and a Very American Bourbon
- Why a Michigan Road Trip Might Be the Best Way to Build a Friendship
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Unpacked by Afar podcast page.