Lanie Gardner comes in like a whisper on the wind — but don’t be fooled. “Takin’ The Slow Ride” might sound gentle, but it carries the weight of someone who’s felt the dust settle after heartbreak and learned to breathe it in.
This track rides that perfect middle lane between folk-country and dreamy Americana — think Kacey Musgraves on a back porch with a glass of sweet tea and a stare that sees through you. The arrangement is stripped but never empty: gentle guitar pickin’, a few brushstrokes of piano, and Lanie’s haunting vocal leading the way.
Lyrically, it’s a meditation — not on escape, but slowing down. She’s not running from heartbreak or chasing some neon-splattered future; she’s sitting in the moment. There’s something quietly defiant in that. It’s not about forgetting the past. It’s about letting it breathe in the rearview while you cruise toward something softer, maybe even kinder.
Her voice — delicate but anchored — is the kind that wraps around you without asking permission. There’s a subtle tension in how she phrases certain lines, like she’s still sorting through the hurt as she sings. It’s that vulnerability that sells the song.
The video adds a cinematic layer — dusty roads, long horizons, soft sunlight on steel. It feels like a visual sigh. There’s no need for flash or dramatics — it’s all in the stillness. You’re not being shown a story, you’re being invited into a mood.
Final Verdict:
“Takin’ The Slow Ride” isn’t loud, but it’s damn powerful. In a genre that too often leans on tropes of trucks and tailgates, Lanie Gardner reminds us that restraint can hit just as hard. This one lingers long after the final chord — like a memory you’re not ready to let go of just yet.
