Spitball Army

I came across an old post (written four-plus years ago, so only old in a relative sense) in which I had constructed a musical playlist to mirror a trip through the South. I couldn’t even recall writing it. Perhaps that’s why I used the word ‘old.’

It followed an imagined road trip out of the Carolinas into Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and then westward through Louisiana. Everyone has their own idea about where the borders of their true South lie. My South extends along a horizon from Louisiana eastward to South Carolina, stepping north into Tennessee and the corner of Arkansas. Florida, however, is not part of My South; it exists in its own cultural universe – a friendly neighbor, but not part of the “collective” (maybe for its own good).

That original playlist – called “Do The South” – has here received a few 2014 revisions, but remains largely as it was. There are songs by Southerners and by non-Southerners; songs describing specific places and events; songs that communicate a mood evoked by the region; songs about Southern people, food, attitudes, music (of course), history and stereotypes. There is no reference to Forrest Gump…well, maybe one (can you find it?). And all the songs follow a route you could take behind the wheel of your trusty rusty Ford pick-em-up truck.

I’ve separated the playlist into three parts. Consider the breaks between sections as overnight stops at a vintage Southern motel. Enjoy yourself and have a safe trip!

Road Trip (Part One):

[audio:My_South_Road_Trip_Part_One.mp3]

1. “Put Me on the Trail to Carolina” (1960) – The Louvin Brothers
2. “Blue Ridge Mountains” (2008) – Fleet Foxes
3. “At a Dixie Roadside Diner” (1940) – Duke Ellington
4. “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” (1959) – Billie Holiday
5. “Georgia on My Mind” (1930) – Hoagy Carmichael
6. “Back to Georgia” (1972) – Loggins & Messina
7. “Love Shack” (1989) – The B-52’s
8. “The Southern Thing” (2002) – Drive-By Truckers
9. “Oh Atlanta” (1974) – Little Feat
10. “Alabama Rain” (1973) – Jim Croce
11. “Hey Mr. Cotton Picker” (1953) – Tennessee Ernie Ford
12. “I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop” (1928) – Jim Jackson
13. “Fried Okra” (1968) – The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
14. “Gulf Coast Highway” (1988) – Nanci Griffith
15. “Shrimp Boats” (1951) – Jo Stafford
16. “Angel from Montgomery” (1974) – Bonnie Raitt
17. “Birmingham Sunday” (1964) – Joan Baez
18. “Birmingham” (2003) – Patty Larkin
19. “Sparrows Over Birmingham” (2003) – Josh Rouse
20. “Alabama High-Test” (2008) – Old Crow Medicine Show

Road Trip (Part Two):

[audio:My_South_Road_Trip_Part_Two.mp3]

1. “Tennessee” (1992) – Arrested Development
2. “Tennessee Border No. 2″ (1963) – Homer & Jethro
3. “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” (1949) – Red Foley
4. “Coat of Many Colors” (1971) – Dolly Parton
5. “Lebanon, Tennessee” (1995) – Ron Sexsmith
6. “5000 Country Music Songs” (2008) – Ry Cooder
7. “Nashville” (2004) – David Mead
8. “That’s How I Got to Memphis” (1993) – Ben Vaughn
9. “Memphis, Tennessee” (1963) – The Beatles
10. “Memphis, Tennessee” (2008) – Mason Jennings
11. “Elvis Presley Blues” (2001) – Gillian Welch
12. “MLK” (1984) – U2
13. “Hot Barbecue” (1966) – Jack McDuff
14. “Down in Mississippi” (2007) – Mavis Staples
15. “Back to Tupelo” (2004) – Mark Knopfler
16. “Tupelo County Jail” (1958) – Webb Pierce
17. “Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi” (2001) – Jim White

Road Trip (Part Three):

[audio:My_South_Road_Trip_Part_Three.mp3]

1. “Oxford” (1993) – Alejandro Escovedo
2. “Cotton Fields” (1963) – Odetta
3. “Talkin’ Casey Jones” (1966) – Mississippi John Hurt
4. “Jackson” (2002) – Hem
5. “Roll On, Mississippi, Roll On” (1931) – The Boswell Sisters
6. “Dixie Lily” (1974) – Elton John
7. “Walkin’ to New Orleans” (1960) – Fats Domino
8. “Down to New Orleans” (1985) – Mason Ruffner
9. “I Put a Spell on You” (1956) – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
10. “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” (1973) – Paul Simon
11. “When the Saints Go Marching In” (1987) – Tuts Washington
12. “City of New Orleans” (1972) – Arlo Guthrie
13. “Bus to Baton Rouge” (2001) – Lucinda Williams
14. “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” (1978) – Emmylou Harris
15. “The Last Mile of the Way” (1964) – The Soul Stirrers