Open Road Amazon Original is the Ultimate Summer Playlist

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The 30 cover songs that comprise "Open Road" are as eclectic as the roster of artists who participated in this playlist. Americana fixtures, John Paul White, Robert Ellis, and Son Volt sit comfortably alongside raucous newcomers White Reaper and Rainbow Kitten Surprise, indie hero Hamilton Leithauser, as well as acclaimed singer-songwriters, Shawn Colvin, and Joshua Radin, among many others.

"Open Road" is marked by a number of truly special collaborative performances, including country iconoclasts Paul Cauthen and Cody Jinks joining forces for a take on the Waylon and Willie classic "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)"; indie folk upstarts Blank Range and The Wild Reeds tackling the Kinkstogetherness-touting "Strangers"; and Carl Broemel's epic, desert highway conjuring reading of Beck's "The Golden Age," for which the My Morning Jacketguitarist convened a veritable super group including Nashville's Caitlin Rose and members of Band of Horses, Sebadoh, and Deer Tick.

Of his jaunty, piano-driven take on the Talking Heads classic "Road to Nowhere," Leithauser says "I played all of the instruments (except the sax) myself, and I mixed it alone. This is the process I find most fun and, oddly, spontaneous these days...'Road to Nowhere' is a deceptively simple song. There really isn't that much information in the entire track. David Byrne is so good at riding out these simple grooves with a charismatic vocal, and great sounding, simple parts. I did what I could to emulate what sounded to me like spontaneity and simplicity."

Elsewhere, Radin called on childhood memories for his version of Simon and Garfunkel's evocative "America," noting, "I've always loved this song...My parents would play it in the car all the time and I can remember watching the world go by from the back seat, wondering what it would be like to see the world through Paul Simon's eyes."

The motivation for Kentucky garage-punks White Reaper's full-throttle take on Deep Purple's classic rubber-scorcher, "Highway Star," wasn't as nostalgic but no less inspired. The band says of the song, "Choosing 'Highway Star' was easy because we listen to it just about every day. Richie Blackmore is one of our favorite guitarists of all time, and Deep Purple is one of the coolest groups there ever was."

"Open Road" also finds Colvin offering a darkly acoustic version of Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive"; Big Search covering the Paul McCartney gem "Let Me Roll It"; and Nightlands, the solo project of The War on Drugs' Dave Hartley, taking on Albert Hammond's loping lament "99 Miles From LA."

In all, "Open Road" offers listeners the perfect year-round road trip soundtrack, whether there is rain, snow, or sunshine beneath the tires.