Common Jack’s “Viñales” is a gentle travel song you can waft with along the open roads, skies, seas, or anywhere else your wanderlust takes you. In this particular case, Common Jack, who is otherwise touring the world as part of the Tony Award-winning, actor-musician Broadway show Once, followed his adventure spirit to Cuba, and even though “Viñales” doesn’t have anything Latin about it, it’s hard to imagine anything but a sun-bathed, blue horizon, disturbed only by a peaceful, salty breeze when you listen to it.
“Viñales” has a nice, light tinge of melancholy that is just right for a travel song, getting the listener to reflect and think about the moments left in the rear-view mirror and the ones waiting somewhere on the road ahead. It’s full of beautiful, country/folk guitar hooks, especially the central one which has that signature bluesy feel of slide guitar without using an actual slide.
The lyrics and gentle vocals also induce a thoughtful state of mind, perfect for taking in all the small moments that make a road trip special but can easily be overlooked if we only focus on the final destination.
“Viñales” is a classic travel song that’d make a nice companion on trips of many different kinds. It’s the latest single of Common Jack’s latest EP, Canyons in the Dark, due out in early 2019.
