“Laredo” by Band of Horses

"Laredo" was the second single from Infinite Arms, the third Band of Horses album, out in 2010, and Ben Bridwell wrote it alone, words and music. Like several songs on the record, it's pinned to a place on the map, though Bridwell shrugged when asked what it meant, guessing there might be a little homesickness in it. Part of it took shape while he was holed up in a cabin deep in the Minnesota woods, with nobody around to hear him wail.

It sounds like it: a big-hearted, road-dusty rocker with the ache pushed right up front. The band hardly played it at first, but once it charted it became a fixture of their live sets. The video stretches the intro to about double the album version's length.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.