Next week, I’m buying a new-to-me car. My 1994 Honda Accord has done me well, but an opportunity has arisen to buy a 2004 Accord. Even though it’s going to drain my bank account and mean higher insurance premiums and excise taxes, I’ve decided it makes good sense to upgrade to a car that has neither body rust nor a cracked windshield, has fully functioning heat and A/C, whose windows actually roll all the way down, and whose engine burns less oil than gas.

While the practical aspects of the sale are fantastic and will make my life less fretful with no more wondering when my car will roll over dead, the thing I’m most looking forward to is the stereo. That’s because I’ve been driving in complete silence for many years now, ever since the volume button started to, without warning or prompting on my part, skyrocket to the loudest levels. I tried to fix it but to no avail. As a result, I begrudgingly gave up the thought of listening to music in my car.

But, as with many things we think we won’t like, I ended up not really missing the stereo that much. I think it was because my life was pretty hectic and I enjoyed the mandatory period of silence while I drove. Sometimes, I’d drive for hours with nothing but the sound of the wind howling past. Perhaps you know what I mean. It’s nice to have a radio, but sometimes it’s nice – and necessary – to just sit and think a little bit.

But silence gets old after a while. And in this time of national worry and non-stop bad news, I think I’m going to enjoy this new car radio a lot. I wake up listening to Ken and Mike on WGAN discussing the news. I can only listen to them for about 15 minutes before I have to get out of bed, but in that short time I have pretty much loaded up on all the bad news I’ll need for the day. It’s important to stay informed – mostly so we know who to boot out of office when the time comes – but sometimes we need to think about more pleasant things.

So, I’m planning on listening to great music on my way to work. What better way to start a work day than to listen to inspiring music. I’m not talking about turning on The Bone or The Blimp and hoping for good stuff to pour out. I’m talking about having a pre-set plan for making sure the morning commute isn’t wasted.

The great C.S. Lewis once said that the feeling we get from listening to great music is as close to heaven as we’ll get in this life. I’ve only been to two rock concerts, when the band U2 visited Boston in 2001 and 2005, but based on these two experiences and the anthemic nature of many of U2’s songs, I would have to agree with Mr. Lewis. U2 will, no doubt, top the list of must-have music CDs in my new car.

Another album I’ll have to play is anything by Coldplay. Coldplay might be the best band since U2. And I hate to say it, but I think they have outperformed U2 in recent years with their creativity, originality, zeal and caliber. Their music is uplifting and rousing, a good combo for any morning commute.

Some other CDs I’m looking forward to transferring from my home collection to the car is American composer Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Lincoln Portrait. Maybe some Sarah Brightman and Vangelis of “Chariots of Fire” fame as well.

And certainly I won’t forget John Denver. He was all the rage when I was a kid but quickly lost popular favor when I was in high school. But, despite what “the other kids think,” I think his soaring and nature-inspired style is unsurpassed. I start my day, as many here in the Lakes Region do, on “Country Roads,” which turn into bigger roads, which dump out to the famed Route 302. So it’s only appropriate to listen to John Denver and get a “Rocky Mountain High” as I travel our country byways.

Whatever music inspires you to feel better about life in general, don’t forget to listen to it while driving to work. Many of us in the Lakes Region spend hours in the car on our way to our jobs so let’s spend it wisely doing something for our souls, reconnecting with the joys of this world. We need that sort of thing, especially now when so many other offerings in our media are depressing and hopeless.

John Balentine, former editor of the Lakes Region Weekly, lives in Windham.