Well, every good road trip deserves a soundtrack. And the really good ones even get their own theme song. Think Easy Rider and Born To Be Wild; Thelma and Louise and Wild Night; or I Will Survive from To Wong Foo…

So, I decided to have a theme song for my journey. I wanted it to be really special, and also to support an indie artist, and someone local to home, if I could.

My first thought was one of the many road songs from singer / songwriter / parking lot attendant Jamie Anderson (not to be confused with the professional snowboarder, though I have no doubt she’d be up for that, as long as she got to bring her baton or hula hoop), with whom I’ve been friends since the mid-80s. I love her music and her sense of humor, and apparently I’m not the only one, since her road songs have been featured on NPR’s Car Talk many times. She should probably make a compilation album of just her driving songs!

But I really did want to help a local artist who hasn’t seen as much of the spotlight, because we have to take care of our own, right? I also wanted to help someone I’ve had the pleasure to work with before, which I haven’t had the opportunity to with Jamie. (Sorry, sweetie!)

So I remembered that local singer/songwriter/humorist Karen Gross, with whom I shared the title Bucks County Herald writer for some time, recently released a great tune called Walk Alone. You may recall that I posted it on my personal Facebook page a bit ago.

I went back to the YouTube video for the song and gave it another listen. And I found the lyrics uncannily apropos for my current state of being. So I contacted Karen and asked if she’d be okay if I posted it here and elected her tune as my official Wildheart Wanders theme song. She said she would be honored.

So, without further ado: Here it is, Walk Alone, sung by Karen herself.