Spitball Army

Birmingham Magazine‘s online music column recently proposed a playlist that would take listeners on a journey through the South.  In addition to posting their list, they opened up for reader submissions.  I posted one – a long one – but left out good ol’ Tennessee.  I also found, while compiling a list from my music library, that I hadn’t many songs to represent the Carolinas…what is up with that?  Surely there are a bunch of them out there!

Amyway, here is my complete playlist.  I’ve gone back in and corrected my Tennesseean omisseean.  A few of the more difficult-to-find tracks are included for your listening pleasure.  Feel free to share your lists, long or short, and to question my choices…I am prepared to discuss and defend every one of them!

“Put Me on the Trail to Carolina” (1960) - The Louvin Brothers

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Blue Ridge Mountains” (2008) - Fleet Foxes
“At a Dixie Roadside Diner” (1940) - Duke Ellington

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” (1959) - Billie Holiday

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Georgia on My Mind” (1930) - Hoagy Carmichael
“Back to Georgia” (1972) – Loggins & Messina
“Love Shack” (1989) – The B-52′s
“The Southern Thing” (2002) – Drive-By Truckers
“Oh Atlanta” (1974) - Little Feat
“Alabama Rain” (1973) – Jim Croce
“Hey Mr. Cotton Picker” (1953) – Tennessee Ernie Ford

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop” (1928) - Jim Jackson

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Fried Okra” (1968) – The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Gulf Coast Highway” (1988) – Nanci Griffith
“Shrimp Boats” (1951) – Jo Stafford

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Angel from Montgomery” (1974) – Bonnie Raitt
“Birmingham Sunday” (1964) – Joan Baez
“Birmingham” (2003) – Patty Larkin

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Sparrows Over Birmingham” (2003) - Josh Rouse
“Alabama High-Test” (2008) – Old Crow Medicine Show
“Tennessee” (1992) – Arrested Development
“Tennessee Border No. 2″ (1963) – Homer & Jethro

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” (1949) – Red Foley

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Coat of Many Colors” (1971) – Dolly Parton
“Lebanon, Tennessee” (1995) – Ron Sexsmith
“5000 Country Music Songs” (2008) – Ry Cooder
“Nashville” (2004) – David Mead
“That’s How I Got to Memphis” (1993) – Ben Vaughn

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Memphis, Tennessee” (1963) – The Beatles
“Memphis, Tennessee” (2008) – Mason Jennings
“Elvis Presley Blues” (2001) – Gillian Welch
“MLK” (1984) – U2
“Hot Barbecue” (1966) – Jack McDuff
“Down in Mississippi” (2007) – Mavis Staples
“Back to Tupelo” (2004) – Mark Knopfler
“Tupelo County Jail” (1958) – Webb Pierce

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi” (2001) – Jim White
“Oxford” (1993) – Alejandro Escovedo
“Cotton Fields” (1963) – Odetta

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Talkin’ Casey Jones” (1966) – Mississippi John Hurt

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Jackson” (2002) – Hem
“Roll On, Mississippi, Roll On” (1931) – The Boswell Sisters

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Dixie Lily” (1974) – Elton John
“Walkin’ to New Orleans” (1960) – Fats Domino
“Down to New Orleans” (1985) – Mason Ruffner

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“I Put a Spell on You” (1956) – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
“Take Me to the Mardi Gras” (1973) – Paul Simon
“When the Saints Go Marching In” (1987) – Tuts Washington

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“City of New Orleans” (1972) – Arlo Guthrie
“Bus to Baton Rouge” (2001) – Lucinda Williams
“Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” (1978) - Emmylou Harris
“The Last Mile of the Way” (1964) – The Soul Stirrers