US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: GUEST,#
Date: 27 May 21 - 10:20 PM

Hey, Joe, you know that life is a highway, huh?

Good song from the Zac Brown Band "Highway 20 Ride." They sure connected with the audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZMCkufE0X0

Subject: ADD: Gulf Coast Highway (Griffith/Hooker)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 May 21 - 09:49 PM

The Gulf Coast Highway is US 90. It runs from Texas to Jacksonville, Florida. I had a wonderful drive on 90 from New Orleans to Pensacola, within sight of the Gulf of Mexico for much of the way.

Gulf Coast Highway (James Hooker/Nanci Griffith/Danny Flowers)

Gulf Coast Highway
(James Hooker/Nanci Griffith/Danny Flowers)

Gulf Coast Highway
He worked the rails
He worked the rice fields
With their cool dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we've ever owned
Is this old house here by the road

And when he dies he says he'll catch some blackbird's wing
He will fly away to Heaven come some sweet blue bonnet spring

She walked through springtime When I was home
The days were sweet, The nights were warm
The seasons change, the jobs would come... the flowers fade
This old house felt so alone When the work took me away

And when she dies she says, she'll catch some blackbird's wing
Then she will fly away to Heaven come some sweet blue bonnet spring

Highway 90, The jobs are gone
We tend our garden, We set the sun
This is the only place on earth blue bonnets grow
Once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road
And when we die we say, we'll catch some blackbird's wing
Then we will fly away to Heaven come some sweet blue bonnet spring

And when we die we say, we'll catch some blackbird's wing
We will fly away together come some sweet blue bonnet spring

https://geocities.restorativland.org/Nashville/1752/album6.htm#gulfcoast (corrected)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUqLleoZxtM

Subject: Songs about US Highways
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 May 21 - 09:41 PM

I love driving US Highways, and Bobby Troup's "Route 66" is the ultimate US Highway song. But I've also driven US 1 on the Atlantic Coast, US 101 on the Pacific Coast, and the US 90 Gulf Coast Highway. The Lincoln Highway is on parts of Routes 30, 40, and 50, and I've driven them all, plus US 20. And I've driven the Dixie Highway, US 41, and US 89, which follows the Continental Divide fairly closely - not to mention the nearby Highways 91, 93, 95, and 395. Oh, yes, I've been to the Crossroads on Highway 61, in the Land Where the Blues Began in Mississippi.

My stepson, an instructor pilot, is flying a student to Kingman, Arizona, tomorrow. I took Route 66 from Kingman to Flagstaff a few years ago, and it was a wonderful drive - lots of restored cars and gas stations and drive-in restaurants — and Burma-Shave signs.

I drove much of the rest of Route 66 from Chicago on my cross-country drive in 2016, but I strayed from the road at times to see other attractions. The most interesting sections of 66 were in Illinois, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California.

I'm advising my stepson to follow 66 on his way back to the Sacramento area tomorrow - 66 to Barstow, and then up across Tehachapi Pass to California Highway 99 (formerly US 99). Small planes often follow highways on long trips - there's lots to see and plenty of airports for food and fuel along the way, and navigation is simple. But I started thinking - are there other songs that mention Kingman, Arizona? "Take It Easy" mentions a corner in Winslow, Arizona, on Route 66 on the east side of the state. But how about Kingman?

So, what songs can we find about US Highways? I have been intentionally following US Highways for about thirty years, and they have taken me to some wonderful places.

-Joe-

[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]