CBC Aboriginal’s top 10 road trip songs

Summer is in full swing and as you head out for a road trip across the country, just down the highway to the lake or home to your community’s powwow, what will be playing on your car stereo?

Picking the perfect mix of music for the entire family can be tricky. Luckily, the indigenous music scene in Canada is an eclectic mix of musical genres, from hip-hop to country to blues to rock.

Just remember: if you don’t like one of the songs, chances are you’ll love the next one. So roll down the windows, turn up the volume and check out CBC Aboriginal’s top 10 road trip songs:

10. Spare Change — Plex: This works for both the kids and the parental units. Some rap with a sample of Chicago’s Saturday in the Park.

9. Stay — Digging Roots: Picture the setting sun, the kids are falling asleep in the back seat, and you are just sailing along that ribbon of asphalt without a care in the world.

8. Sisters — A Tribe Called Red featuring Northern Voice: Can’t make it to an ATCR show this summer? Bring their music with you, but be prepared to stop the car and dance at the side of the road.

7. Come and Get Your Love — Redbone: This song from the '70s stands up to the test of time. Turn this one up and watch passengers in other cars ask you which station you are listening to. True story.

6. Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo — Buffy Sainte-Marie: One does not simply have a music playlist without a Buffy song on it. This industry leader is celebrating 50 years in the business and is clearly the matriarch of indigenous music.​

5. Is Sorry Enough? — Murray Porter: This is one of those songs that comes with a message and can generate a conversation that will last for miles (or kilometres). Porter sings about the government's apology for residential schools.

4. All That I Know — Winnipeg’s Most: Even though the band has broken up and reincarnated itself as Winnipeg Boyz, it has yet to make a song as catchy as this one.

3. Sundancer — Eagle and Hawk: There a few incarnations of this song, but the one with lead vocals by the band’s bassist, Spatch, is the best version. It's also rumoured to be the No. 1 most requested song on Manitoba's NCI-FM (Native Communications Inc.)

2. Damned If You Do — Derek Miller with Willie Nelson: Need something more than one of our community’s best musicians singing with a country music legend?

1. NDN Kar — Various artists. Keith Secola wrote this iconic tune that has been covered by several artists, but it was really Shawn Bernard who breathed new life into this classic. Whichever version you play, you’ll probably play it at least twice before switching to a new tune. 

Who is on your playlist? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #NDNSummerPlaylist.