For the next 30 days, I’ll be taking the #AprilAcrossAmerica challenge, picking one song a day as I make my way across the country and across genres at the same time.

Day 25: Salt Lake City, UT

The closest I ever got to Salt Lake City was Park City. But I feel strangely close to it after hearing this track again. While the song is known to actually be about incidents that have occurred in both Lake Murray, SC and Salt Lake City, UT, the power of the song is that it transports the listener to a different time and place. It feels like we’re there. Band of Horses wrote a song that recounts memories and people like a page ripped out of someone’s journal.

With its unforgettable opening guitar riff and Ben Bridwell’s sky-high tenor vocals, “The Great Salt Lake” has the add significance of being the song that helped put Band of Horses on the map. An earlier recording of the song appeared on the band’s first EP, which caught the attention of Sam Beam (Iron & Wine). Band of Horses ended up becoming the opening act for Iron & Wine’s upcoming tour, and the rest is history.

“Well, if you find yourself falling apart, Well, I am sure I could steer The great salt lake.”