Speeding Ticket Songs: "Why I Drink" - Go to Blazes; "Deja Varoom" - Southern Culture on the Skids; "Moving" - Suede; "Neat Neat Neat" - the Damned. They all make me lean on the accelerator.

Just off the top of my head and all available on request.

Soul/Blues/Rock? But neither sleepy nor bouncy? Hmmm.

Well, that's kind of a huge genre. You probably need a slightly tighter focus. You've got all the Southern Rock bands - Skynyrd, Allman Brothers. You've bluesier songwriters like Lucinda Williams. The Stones. I've got the demos for Let It Bleed and they're amazing. The album I've got of John Hammond covering Tom Waits songs would probably work. He's got a more conventionally appealing, rich bluesy voice and things like "Get Behind the Mule" have a fantastic non-sleepy, non-bouncy groove. Southern Culture on the Skids also have a ton of bluesy rock songs.

Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody?

Because I'm sure my words have been and will continue to be inadequate ("chill but not sleepy, long slow heavy beats but not loud, grooving but not hopping")

Slow Rising [link] Turn on the Radio [link] (it's no. 15 in the playlist)

For some reason, these two songs are married in my head.

For the speeding mix, I (predictably) recommend "Hurtin' Albertan" by Corb Lund, "Girl Named Go" by Cory Branan, and "The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo" by Lucero.

eta I can provide all those, I believe. And if I can't others surely can.

Rowland S.Howard, RIP. [link]

Can people stop dying, please?

One is sort of a "How to get a speeding ticket on a sunny day", songs that are best at full volume and stompy and happy.

My favorite one of these is just about anything from Big Pig's Bonk, but especially "Hellbent Heaven," which starts out "Drivin' down the road / On the Devil's highway."

Can people stop dying, please?

Seriously.

I second smonster's speeding ticket recs, and add in "Hollywood Nights" by Bob Seger.

My slow mix is shaping up.

"Turn on Your Radio" Marc Cohn "Low Rising" The Swell Season "Tupelo Honey" Van Morrison "Trouble" Ray LaMontagne "Honky Tonk Moon" Randy Travis "Rollercoaster" M. Ward "Sideways" Citizen Cope "Let it Be Me" Ray LaMontagne "Harvest Moon" Neil Young "Be Be Your Love" Rachel Yamagata

Van Morrison's "Moondance" was flitting through my head off and on all day, and in a fit of desperation, I looked up a review of Strict Joy, and they made the VM comparison and it clicked!

I just did a quick search for Big Pig and then Ponk, and came back with a lot of porn results.

ah, that's because it's not spelled with a P...

Big Pig's Bonk is my favorite desert-island CD, and my go-to choice for when I want to rev it up and/or just sing at the top of my lungs along with the singer. They only had one semi-hit (on college radio back in 1988) in the US with "Breakaway" (which was played over the opening credits of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), but I love pretty much every song on the cd. Their sound is really unique, with very driving rhythms (out of their seven members, five played percussion and/or drums) and loads of harmonica playing jazz and rock riffs layered on top. The lead female singer has a gorgeously strong voice, and the lead male vocals are equally terrific.

Unfortunately, they only released the one album internationally, and soon after their second album came out in Australia, they had disbanded.

ETA some links to songs:

Tin Drum (really hypnotic, link is for song only)

Hungry Town

Breakaway