Vinyl Ride takes listeners along for the classics in Vacaville

There's just something that screams “California summer time” about cruising down the road with a group of friends, blasting a bunch of classic rock tunes that everybody knows the words to and can sing along with, then pulling up to a park for a BBQ, picnic and party.

Now that life is starting to get back to normal, why not do that same exact thing — but with a few hundred more new friends, and turn that car stereo into one of the best cover bands in the Bay Area playing live and loud on stage?

Local rockers Vinyl Ride will be providing the essential '70s and '80s rock and roll soundtrack at the Vacaville Creek Walk tonight in Andrews Park, with a repertoire that includes standards and favorites such as ZZ Top's “Tush,” Free's “All Right Now,” Poison's “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” and Tom Petty's “Runnin' Down A Dream.”

“We do it for fun. Literally, Vinyl Ride was created originally to give five old guys endorphins,” laughs singer Ron Elm.

“I mean, that's what I tell people. They say, `Why did you start a band?' and I'm like, well, it was kind of a midlife crisis thing. We just all wanted to play music and we jammed together, we sounded pretty good together, and it was just like, wow, we should do this!”

The lineup has changed a bit since Elm started the band about eight years ago, and now includes his daughter, Lynsdey Guerrero, who gained quite a bit of attention locally after she appeared on the TV singing competition show “The Voice” back in 2015.

“Lyndsey's singing in my opinion is far better than mine, so we're even better now than when we started,” said Elm. “Having the two female vocalists has now let us venture out into things like Stevie Nicks, and she does `Respect' by Aretha Franklin and she kills it.

“Then she'll go into “Rock and Roll' by Led Zeppelin, but kind of the Heart version of it. She just wails on stuff like that.”