3 Music-Themed U.S. Road Trips That Hit All the Right Notes

Whether it’s following in the footsteps of your favorite band, curating the highlights of a genre, or just stringing together song-related stops that suit your fancy, music is a great theme for planning your next driving-centric getaway. Check out three of our favorite U.S. road trip itineraries for the next time you want to pop the top, crank the tunes, and head out on the highway.

Rocking the Rust Belt – Ohio to Illinois

• Start: Cleveland, Ohio
• End: Joliet, Illinois
• Distance: approximately 500 miles
• Recommended time: 3 days

In 1951, local Cleveland DJ Alan Freed coined the term “rock ’n’ roll” to describe the records he spun on radio station WJW — and the rest is history. Start your Midwest musical road trip by visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, opened in Cleveland in 1995. The I.M. Pei-designed institution is a treasure chest of musical history, overflowing with memories and memorabilia. 

Next, it’s north to Detroit, which is a veritable mecca of music from genres ranging from gospel to hip-hop. Pay your respects at Orchestra Hall, a 1919 Beaux Arts masterpiece with nearly perfect acoustics that has seen the likes of Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington grace the stage. Stop by New Bethel Baptist Church, where a young Aretha Franklin honed her gospel chops, and then head to the Motown Museum, where Barry Gordy turned the Motor City into Hitsville, USA. Hungry yet? Grab a bite at Mom’s Spaghetti, co-owned by rapper-turned-music-mogul Eminem.

Finally, head west to Chicago, where blues landmarks abound. Muddy Waters’ Chicago home is now the MOJO Blues Museum, and the historic Chess Records building where Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Sonny Boy Williamson II recorded is now Blues Heaven. About 50 miles southwest of the Windy City, Joliet has sadly lost its legendary blues clubs to history, but there’s still an annual blues festival each summer. Plus, the Joliet Area Historical Museum has been known to show Blues Brothers — the movie we all know and love — at the Old Joliet Prison.

Sweet Tea Sounds – Florida to Texas

• Start: Perdido Key, Florida
• End: New Braunfels, Texas
• Distance: approximately 850 miles
• Recommended time: 5 or 6 days

You certainly could break this audiophile odyssey that (mostly) meanders along the Gulf Coast into two separate trips, but we’d stretch it out and spend more time on the beach. Start things off on Perdido Key, a barrier island that straddles the border between Florida and Alabama. You’re here for the legendary Flora-Bama, a honky-tonk that’s been serving hot music and cold Bushwackers for more than 60 years. This world-famous beach bar now has five stages and regularly attracts big-name acts, including Kenny Chesney, who performed the bar’s namesake song for 40,000 fans.

Jimmy Buffett loved “the Bama,” so make your next stop Mobile, Alabama, the hometown of the Pope of the Parrot Heads. In September 2026, Mobile’s National Maritime Museum of the Gulf is paying tribute to Buffett with a new, permanent 6,000-square-foot immersive exhibit honoring the “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” who learned to sail on his grandfather’s schooner. Make sure to grab a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” at the Dew Drop Inn, Mobile’s oldest restaurant and a favorite of Buffett’s.

After Mobile, it’s an easy drive to New Orleans, and as you’d expect, the Big Easy has no shortage of music to enjoy. Some of the most popular venues can be found along Frenchmen Street, but the whole city marches (often literally) to its own joyous beat. Then head on over to Acadiana, also known as Cajun Country, where the music is as spicy as the food.

Lastly, it’s time for Texas. First stop: Austin, the state capital and the home of live music of many genres. The PBS show Austin City Limits has been showcasing some of the nation’s best artists for 50 years — enter the lottery to attend a live taping or show up in early October for the legendary ACL Fest, a three-day extravaganza with today’s top performers. You can also slide down to Sixth Street, which has tons of venues, or South Congress, home to the legendary Continental Club. 

After Austin, head to Luckenbach, Texas — made famous in a 1977 song by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and still a must-visit for its country music scene — along with New Braunfels, home to Texas’ oldest dance hall. 

Getting Your Grunge On – Washington

• Start: Aberdeen, Washington
• End: Seattle, Washington
• Distance: approximately 110 miles
• Recommended time: 1 or 2 days

Smells like a road trip: Gen Xers and millennials remember the tidal wave of sound that erupted in the late 1980s from bands such as Nirvana, Screaming Trees, and L7. Relive those days of flannel shirts and murky guitars with a trip through the cities where the sound was born. If you’re flying into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to kick off your road trip, be sure to stop at the Sub Pop Store in Concourse C: The custom Black Vinyl coffee blend alone is worth the trip.

“Come As You Are” to Aberdeen, a gritty logging town that bills itself as the “Lumber Capital of the World” but was once known as the “Hellhole of the Pacific.” Kurt Cobain, lead singer and vocalist for Nirvana, was the genre’s grungy patron saint, and his modest childhood home is now part of Unplugged, the world’s first museum to honor the music he embodied. 

Just up the road in Olympia, Evergreen State College nurtured many young musicians in the emerging grunge and riot grrl scenes. Though he was not a student at Evergreen, Cobain lived in Olympia for several years and was friends with many musicians there, including Bikini Kill vocalist Kathleen Hanna, who scrawled “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on one of Cobain’s walls. Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein named their band Sleater-Kinney after a local road, and secondhand store Dumpster Values contributed to the wardrobes of many scenesters.

But it’s the city of Seattle that’s best known for the grunge explosion. Sub Pop Records launched many of the genre’s bands there, and KEXP played them before big labels and the rest of the country started paying attention.

No music itinerary would be complete without a trip to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). While the Nirvana exhibit just ended a 14-year-run, it’s giving way to a new exhibition of the Pacific Northwest music scene across decades and genres. Elsewhere, the tiny stage in the oldest saloon in Seattle, the Central, may well be considered the birthplace of grunge. Nirvana performed there for the first time live; Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, the Melvins, and Mother Love Bone have also played the historic venue.

And fortunately, there’s no need to be sleepless in Seattle — rest your head in one of the Sub Pop rooms at Hotel Max or follow in the footsteps of everyone from the Beatles to Pearl Jam and stay at the iconic Edgewater Hotel.

Featured image credit: Ron Buskirk/ Alamy Stock Photo