The Six Episodes to Queue Up Before You Hit the Road for Thanksgiving

Somebody in your car this week is going to ask "what are we listening to" somewhere around the second hour, and the group chat suggestions will not save you. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is historically the heaviest travel day of the year, which means a lot of people are about to spend four, six, ten hours in a car or a terminal with nothing but each other and whatever's queued up. The directory's catalog just had its best week of new drops in a month, so the timing actually works out. Here are six episodes that landed in the last few days, built for a car, a terminal gate, or a kitchen counter full of people who need something to half-listen to while the turkey's in.

Scam Goddess: a scam story juicy enough to out-talk the cousin who thinks she knows everything

Scam Goddess runs on one simple premise: Laci Mosley tells you about a fraud, and you forget you were supposed to be doing something else. This week's Fraud Friday episode with Andrew Ti is the one to start the drive with. It's funny in the way Mosley's episodes always are, which is to say it sneaks the actual crime reporting in while you're laughing at the delivery. The show's been running since 2019 and is getting its own TV adaptation on Freeform and Hulu in January, so there's a decent chance whoever's riding shotgun already half-knows the format. Put this on first and nobody in the car checks their phone for twenty minutes.

Your Favorite Aunties: for the stretch where everyone needs to vent before they see the family

Two actual sisters-in-the-making-sense, Nia and ShaMarian, built this show around the kind of conversation you have in the kitchen after everyone else has gone to bed. Their newest episode, Ep 910: Time Will Tell, is a patience episode, about the stuff you can't rush no matter how badly you want to. The two have been doing this since 2022 and are closing in on their 200th episode together, which shows in how little setup either of them needs before getting into it. If your car ride includes someone stressed about a decision they haven't made yet, this is the one to let play through without talking over it.

Pour Minds: for when the car needs a third and fourth opinion on everybody's business

Drea Nicole and Lex P have been doing this long enough that their show plays less like a podcast and more like being looped into a group chat you didn't know existed. Their latest, Im A Treat ft. Carlos King, brings on the reality-TV producer behind half the shows your family will be arguing about over dessert, which makes it a sneaky good pre-dinner primer. The show's been on the Black Effect Podcast Network feed since 2018 and still runs like the two of them are catching up over a bottle of wine rather than hosting anything.

Good Moms Bad Choices: for the leg of the trip when the kids finally pass out

Erica and Milah have built a following on saying the parts of motherhood most shows leave out, and their newest episode doesn't soften that at all. Botox, Body Counts & the End of the World covers exactly what the title promises, and it's the kind of episode you want on once the kids in the backseat are actually asleep and can't repeat anything. Eight years and over 450 episodes in, Erica and Milah still sound like they're figuring it out in real time instead of performing an answer they settled on years ago.

The Friend Zone: for the part of the trip that needs an actual therapist's brain in the car

Dustin Ross, Hey Fran Hey, and Assanté built this show around mental health without ever making it feel like homework, and the new episode keeps that streak going. Have You No Shame is a straight-talk episode about the stuff people usually only admit in therapy, delivered with enough humor that it doesn't feel heavy. The three have been at this since 2015, which puts it among the longest-running conversations anywhere in the catalog.

R&B Money: for the last hour, when everyone's tired and wants the radio voice instead of the group chat voice

Tank and J. Valentine spend most episodes getting a legend to talk about the records that actually built their career, and this week's guest is about as big as the show gets. The John Legend episode is a songwriting conversation more than an interview, and it's the right note to land on once everybody's worn out and just wants something warm playing in the background. It lands in the same run as sit-downs with Kirk Franklin and Montell Jordan, so if Legend doesn't hit, the back catalog from the last two weeks alone will carry you the rest of the way home.

Six shows, six different moods, one drive. None of these need the aux cord fought over twice, and none of them are going to get interrupted by someone's cousin asking to switch to the radio. Pull up the Black Podcast Directory before you leave, queue these up in order, and save whatever's left in the catalog for the ride back on Sunday.

Referenced in this piece: Scam Goddess, host Laci Mosley; Your Favorite Aunties, hosts Nia and ShaMarian; Pour Minds Podcast, hosts Drea Nicole and Lex P; Good Moms Bad Choices, hosts Erica and Milah; The Friend Zone, hosts Dustin Ross, Hey Fran Hey, and Assanté; R&B Money, hosts Tank and J. Valentine.