Area Code 615 ‎– Trip In The Country VG+/VG

Released in 1970, Trip in the Country is the second and final album by Area Code 615, a collective of Nashville’s top-tier session musicians who had previously backed legends like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Linda Ronstadt. The group—featuring Mac Gayden, Charlie McCoy, Kenny Buttrey, Wayne Moss, and others—used this project to flex their creative muscles outside the confines of commercial studio work, blending country, funk, rock, and psychedelia into a genre-defying instrumental showcase.

The album opens with “Scotland,” a deep funk cut laced with Appalachian banjo and fiddle, setting the tone for a record full of unexpected hybrids. “Stone Fox Chase,” perhaps the band’s most famous track, became the theme for the UK music show The Old Grey Whistle Test and stands as a masterclass in country-funk fusion. Other highlights include “Gray Suit Men,” a barn-burning rocker, and “Devil Weed and Me,” which veers into heavy, almost proto-metal territory with dramatic shifts and a thunderous riff.

Tracks like “Russian Red,” “Sligo,” and “Welephant Walk” showcase the band’s playful side, while “Katy Hill” and “Judy” lean into their country roots with virtuosic fiddle and banjo interplay. The musicianship throughout is impeccable, and the arrangements are full of surprises—like a mid-song homage to Sam & Dave’s “Hold On I’m Coming” tucked into “Scotland” just for fun.