US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 May 21 - 09:14 PM

Highway 101 is featured in Black Leather Trousers.

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: GUEST,#
Date: 28 May 21 - 01:45 PM

Highway 52 - Don Reno & Red Smiley (with thanks to BTMP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22bcMn5YJzg

Lyrics at

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/bluegrass-lyrics/Highway_52.html

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: BTMP
Date: 28 May 21 - 01:26 PM

Reno & Smiley recorded ‘Highway 52’ in West Virginia.

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: GUEST,#
Date: 28 May 21 - 01:03 PM

Well, I think I'd have lost either the dollars or the donuts. I can't find any 'record' of Howlin' Wolf doing the song before the 1970s, which would leave BJW's recording as the source for the Downliners Sect.

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: Geoff Wallis
Date: 28 May 21 - 12:59 PM

The wonderful Terry Allen - Amarillo Highway.

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: GUEST,#
Date: 28 May 21 - 12:47 PM

pattyClink, Big Joe Williams wrote "49 Highway Blues" and it was first released in 1935. The title was rearranged for most (if not all) subsequent recordings. The song's recording history--which probably isn't complete--can be seen at

https://secondhandsongs.com/work/10050/all

Bonzo3legs, the group Downliners Sect has lots on YouTube, but I was unable to locate that song. You have one heck of a memory to recall hearing that back in 1964. Dollars to donuts they picked-up on the Howlin' Wolf version, ya figure?

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 28 May 21 - 11:10 AM

Best version I ever heard was by the Downliner Sect live in 1964!

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: pattyClink
Date: 28 May 21 - 11:03 AM

Yes to all this good stuff! Often the routes designated "US" are good roads that take you to more interesting places than the I-whatever interstates. I drive so many I'd be hard pressed to pick out the favorites. This week US 93 was a lightly traveled very scenic way to get from Phoenix to Kingman.

One great song is "Highway 49", which runs through the Mississippi Delta. Best known as sung by Howlin' Wolf, but I'm not sure who wrote it.

Had NO idea Bobby Troup was a jazz singer or wrote Route 66!!! I thought he was Dr. Joe Early on TV's "Emergency!" What a scream. Though I still prefer Asleep At The Wheel's version of the song.

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: cnd
Date: 27 May 21 - 11:49 PM

Do we want to expand this to include state highways? The Krueger Brothers have an excellent song titled "Up 18 North" (well, actually, a whole album, but also a song) named after NC 18, which goes through Shelby, Morganton, Lenoir, and their main stomping ground, North Wilkesboro (home of Merlefest).

Similarly, Ricky Skaggs has "Highway 40 Blues" [lyrics] which is named for KY 40 rather than I-40, which runs through Nashville.

Ernest Martin has a song titled "Heaven's Highway 66" which is named for US 66 (I assume) but is one of your standard songs about how there's a highway to Heaven and how sin can lead you astray, etc.

John Denver's famous Take Me Home, Country Roads is named for Maryland 117.

Tom T. Hall's famous "A Week In Country Jail" is a (semi) true story about being arrested for speeding through a small town. He doesn't mention a US route or specify a road at all, but he does say it was "a small town in Kentucky." If we can find which, that could help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, for songs which are more in the vein of what you're asking for:

The famous and oft-played fiddle instrumental Lee Highway Blues is named for the US Lee Highway system. Though first recorded by Grayson and Whittier as "Going Down That Lee Highway" most people use the shorter name. The present route covers over a dozen current US Highways (link)

Charley Cline has a song titled "Highway Headed North" about an unnamed highway from Dixie to Cincinnati, but he doesn't say which one. More than likely it's current I-75, but he doesn't say which -- but it is comprised of several former US Highways.

Wynn Osborne has an instrumental song titled "Highway 31" which is probably named for US 31, which runs through Nashville, Wynn's birthplace, and a place he likely visited often, being the son of mandolin prodigy Bobby Osborne.

Robin and Linda Williams have a whole album titled Dixie Highway Sign; here is as the titular song. The whole thing is a great album, and that song in particular is a gem. It is, of course, named after the Dixie Highway (see that link for more songs about the Dixie Highway).

A second Ricky Skaggs song is "Crossville", which is an instrumental he came up with while his bus was passing through Crossville, TN on his way home to Nashville. Sadly, he doesn't say which highway. It was probably I-40, but US 70 isn't out of the question.

Millions of corny trucker songs name-drop dozens of highways along the way. The only one which I can think of off the top of my head which refers to a specific road is Dick Curless's classic Tombstone Every Mile, which refers to the often icy and dangerous stretch of US 2A

I can provide lyrics to any of the songs I've listed above if you'd like. I'll also keep an ear out for other road songs, these are just the ones that came to mind.

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: GUEST,#
Date: 27 May 21 - 11:16 PM

"U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States" (from Wikipedia)

Bruce Springsteen -- Born to Run

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 27 May 21 - 11:09 PM

There are multiple versions of:
I've Been Everywhere

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

I do not understand the bewitching Messmorisan that placed me under the yolk...but there are now dozens upon dozens of sites my thirsty boots quench to discover....govt B Dd.

Subject: RE: US Highways and Songs About them
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 May 21 - 10:50 PM

In 2019, I stuck pretty close to US 20 from Oregon to Detroit. It passes through Idaho, just a bit of Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. I turned north at Notre Dame and headed for Detroit, but US 20 goes on through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York and into Massachusetts.

The song # posted is about Georgia State Route 20, a highways shaped like the letter "J." I've been to lots of places in Georgia, but not much along Route 20. I suppose Augusta, Savannah, Macon, and Athens are my favorite cities in Georgia - and I love the Okefenokee Swamp.

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.]