Premiere: Tai Shan delivers hopeful travelin’ tune with ‘Road Back to Me’

The open road is a special place. The wind brushing your hair; the summer sun setting on your lips; and nature appearing limitless around your feet – all conspiring to rejuvenate the body. Singer-songwriter Tai Shan certainly knows that feeling, as she attests with her song “Road Back to Me.” Premiering today, the breezy, road-trippin’ tune infects the eardrums and makes you wiggle in your seat. It shimmers as Shan turns over the melody in her hands, her voice feathered and a little world-weary. But there’s lightness in the way she crafts the lyrics. She knows full well that hitting the highway will do her body good.

“My heart, my home, my who I want to be / My blood, my bones, that girl inside of me!” she wails in the bridge. Guitars thrash around her, flapping in the wind. Written with Bradley Collins and Elizabeth Eckert, the anthem was born out of a conversation around Collins’ recent breakup and subsequent cross-country drive back to Nashville.

“He took the southern route, known as Hwy 10 or, in parts, Route 66, which has a rich culture as the road many traveling musicians would take on their way to L.A.,” Shan tells B-Sides & Badlands. “This highway was not unknown to me. In fact, I drove it a few years back, alone, from L.A. to Nashville. I was going through a rough patch with a partner and needed to drive off for some much-needed alone time.”

“There’s a magic to that part of the country. Wild mustangs and pronghorns dot the landscape. In Utah and Arizona, the rock turns red, and formations point to the sky like spires of old churches,” she continues. “My favorite spot is the Valley of the Gods, situated on Navajo Nation land up a dirt road. The sky at night is so bright, even on a moonless night, that planes’ red blinking lights can be seen reflecting off the dirt.”

“Road Back to Me” sinks into the bones, a salve for an anxiety-riddled world. These troubling times might be difficult to navigate, but songs like Shan’s latest give us that much-needed escape to find our footing and forge ahead into the darkness.

Elsewhere in her journeys, particularly in southern Colorado, Shan witnessed other marvelous beauties of nature that have jolted her awake. “There are the old villages built into the rock at Mesa Verde and Hope, as well as Zion, the Mojave Desert, and many strange roadside attractions,” she describes. “It’s a place for healing, where the roads are wide, time is slow, and the days are filled with miles and songs on the radio.”

“Road Back to Me” samples Shan’s forthcoming album, Wildflower Moon, out everywhere on August 22. Shan promises the record to be “a collection of songs written and based on my adventures on the road and my experiences as a mother,” she notes. “It’s an album of songs to drive to, to get back to yourself with, and to find yourself through. I think we all need a bit of quiet and a good road trip album to help us through the long stretches.”

Listen to “Road Back to Me” below.

Follow Shan on her socials: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website