Travel to Listen: The Spacey, Sunbaked Rock of California's Mojave Desert

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Welcome to "Travel to Listen," a new Unpacked series hosted by veteran music journalist Tim Chester. Over four episodes rolling out every other week, Tim takes us into the cities where music is more than entertainment—it’s the shortcut to a place’s soul. This week, he heads into the high desert of Southern California to find out why the Mojave has been spawning some of rock’s most original sounds for decades. Along the way, he discovers a landscape that’s every bit as wild and inspiring as the music it produces. In this episode What “desert rock” actually means—and how the Mojave Desert’s extreme heat, isolation, and silence forged a uniquely sun-baked, heavy sound that’s impossible to…