Songs of the Road, Part 3 (Member’s Picks): Traveling Boy

Any compilation of Songs of the Road would be amidst by not having legendary Mississippi Delta bluesman Robert Johnson represented in the list. Johnson plied his craft on street corners and in juke joints, writing songs that romanticized his plight on the road. Johnson accomplished this with such an unprecedented intensity, marrying his expressive vocals with a guitar mastery, that his music has endured long after the heyday of country blues and his own short life of 27 years.

Selected Lists of T-Boy Society of Film & Music Members

Ed Boitano – T-Boy editor:

Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles (Naked version)
The City of New Orleans – Arlo Guthrie
Refuge of the Road – Joni Mitchell
Sweet Baby James – James Taylor
America – Simon & Garfunkel
Walkin’ Blues – Robert Johnson
Running on Empty – Jackson Browne
Moon River – Audrey Hepburn (outtake from Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
Peace Train – Cat Stevens

Rourke – Film critic & musician:

Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
America – Simon & Garfunkel
The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles
Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
Highway 20 Ride – Zac Brown Band
Can’t Find My Way Home – Blind Faith
Peace Train – Cat Stevens
Running on Empty – Jackson Browne
On the Road Again – Willie Nelson
Downtown Train – Tom Waits version

Jim Gordon – Co-host & co-producer Travel Guys TV:

Moonlight in Vermont (my all time favourite song) – Sinatra version, though Stan Getz version is cool
Autumn in New York – Sinatra or Billie Holiday
Come Fly with Me – Sinatra
It Happened in Monterey – Sinatra
April in Paris – Sinatra (though Count Basie does a great instrumental version)
Poinciana – Nat King Cole
Red Sales in the Sunset – Nat King Cole
A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square – Nat King Cole
By the Time I Get to Phoenix – Glen Campbell (Sinatra also does a solid version)
You Belong to Me – Jo Stafford
I Wish I could go Travelling Again – Stacey Kent (lovely, Brit jazz singer)

Honorable Mention

Arrivederci, Roma – Dean Martin
Green City – Gak Sato
Sinatra: A Man Alone – Words and music by Rod McKuen. (A little-known, kind of depressing album from 1968 but contains the following beautifully reflective songs: Lonesome Cities, The Beautiful Strangers and I’ve Been to Town)
Memphis in June – Matt Monro

Alex Brouwer – T-Boy writer:

Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver
Only a River – Bob Weir
Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show
Rivers and Roads – The Head and the Heart
Hymn #101 – Joe Pug
River – Leon Bridges
The End of the Rainbow – McKinley Mitchell
Old Pine – Ben Howard
California – The Lagoons
Michigan – The Milk Carton Kids

Honorable Mention

Long Time Traveller – The Wailin’ Jennys
Traveling Alone – Tift Merritt

Dan King – Film critic:

Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
Buick City Complex – Old 97s
Route 66 – The Rolling Stones
Sweet Baby James – James Taylor
I Get Around – The Beach Boys
I’ve Been Everywhere – Johnny Cash
Surf City – Jan and Dean
Magical Mystery Tour – The Beatles
Meadowdale Street – Ryan Adams
Mozambique – Bob Dylan

Ringo Boitano – T-Boy writer:

Carefree Highway – Gordon Lightfoot
Fast Car – Tracy Chapman
Free Man in Paris – Joni Mitchell
Graceland – Paul Simon
Hitch Hike – Marvin Gaye
Magical Mystery Tour – The Beatles
Sweet Baby James – James Taylor
Road to Nowhere – Talking Heads
The Wanderer – Dion
Where the Streets Have No Name – U2

Richard Carroll – T-Boy writer:

Moonlight In Vermont – Sinatra and other pop and jazz artists have performed
Kansas City – Count Basie and many other vocalists and groups
St. Louis Blues – A jazz standard
Georgia – Ray Charles and many others
Lonesome Road – Jimmy Smith Jazz organist.
Traveling Boy – Paul Williams

T. E. Mattox – T-Boy music critic:

Willin’ – Little Feat
Woodstock – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Walkin’ Blues – Robert Johnson
Terraplane Blues – Robert Johnson
Steady Rollin’ Man – Sonny Boy II
Walkin’ While I Bleed – Doug MacLeod
I Oughta’ Be Gone – Billy Watson
Goin’ Downtown – Microwave Dave and the Nukes
Hellbound Train – Savoy Brown
On the Road Again – Canned Heat

Allan Smith – Artist & T-Boy writer:

Refuge of the Roads – Joni Mitchell
America – Simon & Garfunkel
Roads to Moscow – Al Stewart
Magical Mystery Tour – The Beatles
Sweet Baby James – James Taylor
Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
Country Roads – Toots and the Maytalls
On the Road Again – Willie Nelson
Any Road – George Harrison
Hard Road – Rod Stewart & the Faces

James Boitano – T-Boy writer:

Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver
Take it Easy – The Eagles
Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight & the Pips
Vacation – The Go Gos
Walkin’ Blues – Robert Johnson
Home for the Holidays – The Carpenters
Driving Home for Christmas – Chris Rhea
Over The River and Through the Woods – American Traditional

Tom Tapp – Film & music critic:

Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
Where the Streets Have No Name – U2
Midnight Rider – Allman Brothers Band
Hotel California – The Eagles
L.A. Woman – The Doors
Can’t You See – Marshal Tucker Band
Interstate Love Song – Stone Temple Pilots
Ventura Highway – America
Highway to Hell – AC/DC
Rearviewmirror – Pearl Jam

Honorable Mention

Going to California – Led Zeppelin
Already Gone – The Eagles
American Pie – Don McClean
The Passenger – Iggy Pop
Tecumseh Valley – Townes Van Zandt
Road to Nowhere – Talking Heads
On the Road Again – Willie Nelson
Paradise City – Guns ‘n’ Roses
Girl From the North Country – Bob Dylan
I’ve Been Everywhere – Johnny Cash
America – Simon and Garfunkel

Paul R. Stave – Music critic & former DJ:

Me and Paul – Willie Nelson song
Trans Am – Sammy Hagar
I Can’t Drive 55 – Sammy Hagar
Going Mobile – The Who
King of the Road– Roger Miller
I Am the Highway– Audioslave
Drive – Incubus
Highway Star – Deep Purple
Highway 40 Blues – Ricky Skaggs
Low Rider – War

Weave Cleveland – Musician/composer & Travel Guys TV cinematographer:

Another White Dash – Butterfly Boucher
Convoy – C.W. McCall
Down the Road Tonight – Bruce Hornsby & The Range
Everyday is a Winding Road – Sheryl Crow
Further On Up the Road – Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland
King of the Road – Roger Miller
King’s Highway – Tom Petty
Last Chance Texaco – Rickie Lee Jones
The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles
Willin’ – Little Feat

Raoul Pascual – T-Boy writer, designer & artist:

By The Time I get To Phoenix – Bobby Goldsboro
Clouds – David Gates
Five Hundred Miles – Peter Paul and Mary
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – The Singer Midgets (a troupe of performers who portrayed the Munchkins in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz.
Fly Me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra
Get Here If You Can – Alita Williams
The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles
Movin’ Down the Highways of My Life – Isley Brothers
Wandering – James Taylor
Terminal – Rupert Holmes