August 2025 Mixtape: The Great Wide Open.

Editor’s note: Music is an essential component of my coffee drinking experience. This is what I’m listening to with my cup of coffee this month. Each side is 45 minutes long, just like the blank Memorex tapes I used to buy as a kid, and about the time it takes to enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee…or two.

There is something about being in it on a long road trip. The quibbles over snacks and stops, the stresses of packing, the grime of a third day at camp, when the right road and the right song sweep away all the excess to create a sort of sublime flow. You can drive and drive and drive as the plains stretch beyond forever, only to be broken by a mountain range whose jagged peaks could make a man cry.*

For me, that was the endlessness of Montana and the soundtrack you’ll find below. The songs build and burst. I felt connected to the scenic byways and the four corner townships between East Glacier and Helena and Billings through the momentary expulsion of each song. We were there and then gone, no mark on the earth left behind.

Looking back at the songs, I’m struck by unexpected melancholic theme that is pervasive throughout. It wasn’t intentional. Rather, a reflection of the pleasantness that comes with taking in everything that comes around that sweeping Montana curve.

Friday night, boys and girls I see
Drunk and running around like ants
They all just want to be heard and seen
Speaking their minds and taking their stance
Some are happy, and some are mean
Some are just looking for quick romance
They want to be part of the popular scene
So they dress the part and take their chance
• Band: The Brudi Brothers • Song: Me More Cowboy Than You

*Other genders, too, but I’m speaking from personal experience, here.

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