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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Joe Offer Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson) (59* d) Origins: Way Down the Road (Craig Johnson) 19 Aug 25

Thread #174273   Message #4227368
Posted By: GUEST,Jim Bean
19-Aug-25 - 02:20 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Craig Johnson's Way Down the Road
Subject: Origins: Craig Johnson's Way Down the Road

Does anyone know if Craig Johnson wrote Way Down the Road from family history or from anyone he knew's personal history?


Hi, Jim,
Rick Mohr's post above has a link to Craig Johnson's recording of the song, which he calls "Away Down the Road." It has this explanation:
    During World War II thousands of people from Kentucky, Tennessee, and other parts of the rural South moved to the Detroit area to work in the factories that supplied aircraft, tanks, munitions, and other necessities to the military. When I wrote this song, I thought of it as primarily the story of other people who had lived in proximity to me. As I've grown older, and learned more about my own family and their migration north in the 1920's, I've come to realize that "Away Down the Road" was our story as well.

    credits from Away Down the Road, released September 5, 2009

https://craigjohnson3.bandcamp.com/track/away-down-the-road


When I was a kid, Willow Run was the main airport for Detroit. I remember Mom and the five of us kids taking Dad to the airport for business trips in the 1950s. I went back to Willow Run a few years ago, when I was in Detroit for a family reunion. Some of the magnificent buildings for the Ford B-24 aircraft factory are still there, but there's not much going on at Willow Run anymore. Detroit moved its main airport closer to town - Willow Run is a long, long way from Detroit.

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