Stephen Stills’ Manassas double LP is as ambitious as it is enjoyable, packed with enough variety to keep you engaged while feeling like a musical journey that goes from coast to coast in the USA. It starts off slow, like someone easing into a jam session, before finding its stride with tracks like "Anyway." By the middle, the album leans heavily into country and western territory, capturing that old Appalachian charm with fiddles and banjos reminiscent of the Carter Family, Clarence Ashley, and Dock Boggs—but updated for the time. It’s the kind of pure Americana sound that might make you want to do a little jig, even if it occasionally meanders before the latter sides bring it home with lush harmonies and tight grooves. Manassas isn’t perfect—double albums rarely are—but it captures the spirit of the early ’70s with its bold ambition and variety. From the bluesy closer "Blues Man" to the layered energy of "Move Around," it’s an album full of heartfelt Americana that feels like a proper road trip soundtrack. It’s a mix of heartfelt and fun, like a long road trip with an old friend who can’t stop switching radio stations, but keeps finding good songs when he does so.