Southern Pacific

Why not.......might as well mention another 80's country-rock band that caught my attention over the barn radio airwaves years ago, as I washed udders, attached and removed milker suction cups, and dipped teats. Fun stuff.

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In no way, shape, or form did I imagine myself to be a fan of Country & Western music. Slow, mushy C & W crooners grated on my nerves like fingernails on a blackboard......apparently, I have a rock & roll heart. Not hard rock, mind you......just middle of the pack rock & roll. There in the barn in the mid-1980's my ears started to perk up to the sound of bands with good vocal harmonies and catchy instrumentals, with a bit of folksy twang. That's when "The Desert Rose Band" caught my attention, along with others......Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Sawyer Brown, Restless Heart, Highway 101 (anybody remember their song, "Bing, Bang, Boom"?), and another California band, "Southern Pacific". Back then, I wasn't knowledgeable about the backgrounds of band members. I wasn't aware that "DRB" and Southern Pacific were comprised of musicians who had already known success and fame in rock & roll bands such as The Byrds, CCR, and The Doobie Brothers. All I knew was that their sound was refreshing and enjoyable to my ears out there in the barn. Evidently, I must be a California country girl at heart, trapped in rural Iowa.

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One of my favorite Southern Pacific songs is "New Shade of Blue".......click to this

Rhapsody website to find a link to listen to it. "Reno Bound" is another song listed.......(Deserthen, you might like that one.). "Any Way the Wind Blows" is another good song, though its not listed there. Though I'm certainly not a semi-truck driver, I enjoy the song "Wheels on the Line", too......its hilarious and has a fun beat, "I saw a Great Dane in the granny lane.....so I hit the brakes.......he wagged his tail as I hit the rail........Gonna fly on a blacktop sky.....". Though slow songs aren't usually my thing, I appreciate Southern Pacific's "Trail of Tears" for its thought-provoking message.

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There wasn't much to be found on YouTube, except this clip which contains the audio of Southern Pacific's, "Midnight Highway"........a nice song to drive to......


Back then in the 80's, I bought several Southern Pacific cassette tapes. I was slow to convert to compact discs when they came into vogue in the 90's. By the time I started buying CDs in stores, there was none to be found of Southern Pacific. Eventually, when we bought our first computer and I learned to surf the internet, I bought several Southern Pacific CD's on eBay and now I can listen to their music whenever I want---hooray!---especially on road trips. I wish Playlist had some of their songs to add to the player at the bottom of this page. How does Playlist get songs? Can anyone upload songs onto Playlist? I wouldn't know how to do such a thing.

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Have a rockin' good day!

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