Sep 14, 2026 · 37 min · 10 segments
In the first episode of Songwriter Storyteller, host Brian Pritchard sits down with his father, songwriter Chris Pritchard, to unpack the true story behind "On the Road to California," a song Chris…
Chris PritchardGuest
Brian PritchardHost
Well, and I caught in this last listen, you know, um, spent, spent so much time, uh, obviously focused on that, that, that intro and that, uh, adaptation, you do bookend the song with, um, a sort of outro flourish too, right? That, that, um, I'm looking at the lyrics again, where, where I close my eyes and feel the sunrise and pray you still are mine.
And I feel like the music at that point, um, uh, like lifts, you know, that, that, um, that moment feels actually kind of sunny and bright and hopeful.
Even, even at the end, you sort of jump to this like low, you know, bass note, but, um, you, you exit the song in kind of an interesting way.
There are these two bookend flourishes with, with, with, with the body of it in the middle.
Um, but I, I wanted to mention too, I was thinking about how, um, There's that song.
That little, like, minor piano thing where you've sort of got this very upbeat song, but with this thing that sort of throws your ears into that minor key.
This almost felt like this, like, reverse flourish, right? Where you've had a song that really stayed in that sort of...
And then there's this moment as you're talking about the sunrise and stuff that kind of, yeah, like for a minute almost goes into like major key places.
And then at the very end of the song, when he says, and now I'm on the road to California and I wonder, and I wonder what I'll find.
I close my eyes, feel the sun rise, again referring to Jesus, and pray you still are mine.
But the outro musical feel at that point does actually, you're correct, shift from the minor key into a major key.
So it ends on a more optimistic, hopeful note as the lyrics are saying, and I pray you still are mine.
Well, and I caught in this last listen, you know, um, spent, spent so much time, uh, obviously focused on that, that, that intro and that, uh, adaptation, you do bookend the song with, um, a sort of outro flourish too, right? That, that, um, I'm looking at the lyrics again, where, where I close my eyes and feel the sunrise and pray you still are mine.
And I feel like the music at that point, um, uh, like lifts, you know, that, that, um, that moment feels actually kind of sunny and bright and hopeful.
Even, even at the end, you sort of jump to this like low, you know, bass note, but, um, you, you exit the song in kind of an interesting way.
There are these two bookend flourishes with, with, with, with the body of it in the middle.
Um, but I, I wanted to mention too, I was thinking about how, um, There's that song.
That little, like, minor piano thing where you've sort of got this very upbeat song, but with this thing that sort of throws your ears into that minor key.
This almost felt like this, like, reverse flourish, right? Where you've had a song that really stayed in that sort of...
And then there's this moment as you're talking about the sunrise and stuff that kind of, yeah, like for a minute almost goes into like major key places.
And then at the very end of the song, when he says, and now I'm on the road to California and I wonder, and I wonder what I'll find.
I close my eyes, feel the sun rise, again referring to Jesus, and pray you still are mine.
But the outro musical feel at that point does actually, you're correct, shift from the minor key into a major key.
So it ends on a more optimistic, hopeful note as the lyrics are saying, and I pray you still are mine.
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