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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (Southern Accents) - Southern Accents
James Taylor (Sweet Baby James) - Oh Susannah ("I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee")
Michelle Shocked (Short Sharp Shocked) - Anchorage
If you have any more suggestions for this province then please email me using the link at the bottom of this page.
Appalachia
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (American Jubilee) - Variations On A Shaker Melody From Appalachian Spring
Bruce Hornsby And The Range (Scenes From The Southside) - The Road Not Taken ("...fell in love with an Appalachian girl...")
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Hold On) - Blue Ridge Mountain Girl
John Sebastian (Best Of) - Face Of Appalachia
See also individual states
Glen Campbell (Twenty Golden Greats) - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Eagles (Best Of) - Take It Easy ("Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona...")
Grofe/London Festival Orchestra (Grand Canyon Suite) - Sunrise
Joshua Kadison (Painted Desert Serenade) - Painted Desert Serenade
Gordon Lightfoot (Sundown) - Carefree Highway (I do not know whether or not this song is about a road near the town of Carefree, north-northeast of Phoenix)
Michael Murphey (Land Of Enchantment) - Land Of The Navajo
Michael Murphey (Michael Murphey) - Southwestern Pilgrimage
Ozark Mountain Daredevils (The Car Over The Lake Album) - Mr Powell (John Wesley Powell led the first European expedition by boat through the Grand Canyon)
Poco (The Forgotten Trail) - Sagebrush Serenade
Unknown Artist (Truckin') - Truckin' Man Type Motel ("...a little place down in Arkansas...")
America (Homecoming) - California Revisited
America (Encore) - Everyone I Meet Is From California
America (Encore) - Hollywood
America (History) - Ventura Highway
David Arkenstone (The Narada Wilderness Collection) - Yosemite
Beach Boys (Twenty Golden Greats) - California Girls
Beach Boys (Holland) - California Saga/California
Beach Boys (Twenty Golden Greats) - Surfin' USA
George Benson (Weekend In L.A.) - California P.M.
Jimmy Buffett (Living And Dying In 3/4 Time) - Come Monday ("I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze...")
Eric Burdon And The Animals (25 Years Of Rock And Roll 1967) - San Franciscan Nights
Glen Campbell (Twenty Golden Greats) - Country Boy You Got Your Feet In L.A.
Johnny Cash (Twenty Foot-Tappin' Greats) - Folsom Prison Blues (Folsom is just north of US50 on the eastern edge of Sacramento)
Johnny Cash (Twenty Foot-Tappin' Greats) - San Quentin (San Quentin is in Marin County, at the western end of the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge)
David Crosby (If I Could Only Remember My Name) - Tamalpais High At About Three
Sheryl Crow (Tuesday Night Music Club) - All I Want To Do ("... till the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard")
(Disney Collection Volume One) - Mickey Mouse March
(Disney Collection Volume One) - Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me (from Pirates of the Caribbean)
Doobie Brothers (Living On The Fault Line) - Living On The Fault Line
Doobie Brothers (Stampede) - Neal's Fandango ("...the hills above Santa Cruz...")
Doobie Brothers (Stampede) - Slat Key Soquel Rag (Soquel is in the mountains inland from Santa Cruz)
Doors (L.A. Woman) - L.A. Woman
Eagles (Best Of) - Hotel California
Flowerpot Men (25 Years Of Rock And Roll 1967) - Let's Go To San Francisco
Christopher Franke - Pacific Coast Highway (album)
Marvin Gaye And Tammi Terrell (Marvin Gaye And His Women) - California Soul
Arlo Guthrie (Best Of) - Coming In To Los Angeles
Albert Hammond (Very Best Of) - Ninety-Nine Miles From L.A.
Albert Hammond (Very Best Of) - It Never Rains In Southern California
Albert Hammond (Very Best Of) - Rebecca (mention of Mullholland Drive)
Richard Harris (A Tramp Shining) - MacArthur Park (MacArthur Park is in Los Angeles)
Jan And Dean (California Sound Of The Sixties) - Little Old Lady From Pasadena
Joshua Kadison (Painted Desert Serenade) - Picture Postcards From L.A.
Simon Kitson (Road Dreams Programme 6) - L.A. Freeway (this track has also been recorded by Guy Clark and Roger Creager; it is on Roger Creager's "Having Fun All Wrong" album)
Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin) - Going To California
Mamas And Papas (California Sound Of The Sixties) - California Dreamin'
Mamas And Papas (People Like Us) - Pacific Coast Highway
John Mayall (Turning Point) - California
Scott McKenzie (California Sound Of The Sixties) - San Francisco
Pat Metheny Group (Pat Metheny Group) - San Lorenzo (there is a town called San Lorenzo on San Francisco Bay, but there are others)
Joni Mitchell (Blue) - California
Wes Montgomery (Compact Jazz) - Bumpin' On Sunset
Van Morrison (Hard Nose The Highway) - Snow In San Anselmo (San Anselmo is a small town north of the Golden Gate Bridge)
New Riders Of The Purple Sage (Gypsy Cowboy and The Adventures Of Panama Red) - LA Lady
New Riders Of The Purple Sage (Gypsy Cowboy and The Adventures Of Panama Red) - Lonesome LA Cowboy
New Riders Of The Purple Sage (Gypsy Cowboy and The Adventures Of Panama Red) - Sutter's Mill (the site of the gold strike which led to the California Gold Rush of 1849)
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Pure Dirt) - It's Raining Here In Long Beach
Tom Paxton (Peace Will Come) - California
Mark Olsen And The Creek Dippers (Pacific Coast Rambler) - Owens Valley Day
Orleans (Dance With Me - The Best Of Orleans) - Golden State
Otis Redding (Atlantic Soul Classics) - Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay (San Francisco Bay?)
Savage Garden (Savage Garden) - Santa Monica
Boz Scaggs (Down Two Then Left) - Hollywood
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band (Stranger In Town) - Hollywood Nights
Michelle Shocked (Arkansas Traveller) - Come A Long Way ("...and never even left L.A.")
Bruce Springsteen (The Ghost Of Tom Joad) - Balboa Park (Balboa Park is in San Diego)
Bruce Springsteen (The Ghost Of Tom Joad) - Sinaloa Cowboys
Spyro Gyra (MCA Jazz Sampler 88 Spring Into Summer) - Yosemite
Steely Dan (Gaucho) - Babylon Sisters ("Drive west on Sunset to the sea...", referring to Sunset Boulevard)
Steely Dan (Two Against Nature) - West Of Hollywood
Rachel Stevens - Sweet Dreams My LA Ex (a pun on LAX, the airport code for Los Angeles International Airport)
Eric Tingstad, Nancy Rumbel And David Lanz (Woodlands) - Sequoia
U2 (The Joshua Tree) - In God's Country
U2 (The Joshua Tree) - Where The Streets Have No Name (my thanks to Bernard Davis who says: "The video for the song was filmed in Los Angeles but the city that in the song is the Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru"; however, for me it applies to the California deserts)
Unknown Artist - Chips Theme (California Highway Patrol)
Dionne Warwick (Golden Hits Volume Two) - Do You Know The Way To San Jose?
Jesse Colin Young (Best Of) - Ridgetop, Morning Sun (Ridgetop is about Jesse Colin Young's home on Mount Tamalpais, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge)
George Hamilton IV And George Hege Hamilton V (Country Classics) - Canadian Pacific (Although the original solo recording by George Hamilton IV alone is regarded as being the definitive version of this song, I own a copy of the above version sung by George Hamilton IV and George Hege Hamilton V.)
Gordon Lightfoot (Early Lightfoot/Sunday Concert) - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Gene Pitney - Trans-Canada Highway
Joshua Rifkin (Scott Joplin Piano Rags) - Maple Leaf Rag
Runrig (Amazing Things) - Canada
Runrig (The Cutter And The Clan) - The Cutter (Bernard Davis sent me this comment: "a song about a Scottish emigrant to Canada who comes back to Scotland every year to cut the turf for his parents' fire for the winter")
Unknown Artist (Sounds Of The Loon) - Sounds Of The Loon
The Carolinas
Allman Brothers Band (Brothers And Sisters) - Southbound
Connie Francis - Carolina Moon
Michael Murphey (Blue Sky Night Thunder) - Carolina In The Pines
New Riders Of The Purple Sage (Gypsy Cowboy) - On My Way Back Home ("Flying to the sun, sweet Caroline")
Real Thing (You To Me Are Everything) - Watch Out Carolina
James Taylor (James Taylor) - Carolina In My Mind
Jesse Colin Young (Song For Juli) - Country Home
See also North Carolina and South Carolina
Brewer And Shipley (Rural Space) - Crested Butte
Judy Collins (Who Knows Where The Time Goes) - Someday Soon ("There is a young man that I know, his age is twenty-one, comes from down in southern Colorado...")
John Denver (The John Denver Collection) - Rocky Mountain High
John Denver (The John Denver Collection) - Starwood In Aspen
Joni Mitchell (Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm) - My Secret Place
Willie Nelson (Red Headed Stranger) - Denver
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Colorado Christmas
Ozark Mountain Daredevils (Ozark Mountain Daredevils) - Colorado Song
Poco (The Forgotten Trail) - Grand Junction
Poco (The Forgotten Trail) - Rocky Mountain Breakdown
Unknown Artist - Centennial Theme
Unknown Artist - (Television's Greatest Hits 70's/80's) - Dynasty Theme
Unknown Artist - Mork And Mindy Theme (set in Boulder, Colorado)
Unknown Artist - (Truckin') - Silverton (about the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad)
Sade (Diamond Life) - Smooth Operator (mention of Key Largo)
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band (Like A Rock) - Miami
Stills-Young Band (Long May You Run) - Midnight On The Bay (set in the Florida Keys?)
Unknown Artist (Television's Greatest Hits 70's/80's) - Miami Vice
Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind (suggested by Kevin Ingraham of California, who mentions that this song has also recorded been by many other artists)
Randy Crawford (Secret Combination) - Rainy Night In Georgia
Joshua Kadison (Painted Desert Serenade) - Georgia Rain
Gladys Knight And The Pips (Black Joy) - Midnight Train To Georgia
Eric Tingstad And Nancy Rumbel (Pastorale) - Savannah
Ike And Tina Turner (25 Years Of Rock And Roll 1973) - Nutbush City Limits
Beach Boys (Surfin') - Go To Hawaii
Geoff Love (Your Top TV Themes) - Hawaii Five-O
BoDeans - Idaho
Harry Chapin (Short Stories) - WOLD ("...so I worked my way down home again here to Boise Idaho")
Michael Haumont (Acoustic Moods) - Snake River Blues
Anita Meyer - Idaho
New Amsterdams - Idaho
Rednex - Nowhere In Idaho
John Renbourn And Stefan Grossman - Idaho Potato
Train - Idaho
Yonder Mountain String Band - Idaho
Chicago (The Heart Of Chicago) - Take Me Back To Chicago
Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young (Four Way Street) - Chicago
Kiki Dee (Very Best Of) - Chicago
Dan Fogelburg (Souvenirs) - Illinois
John Mayall And Walter Trout - Chicago Line
Steely Dan (Pretzel Logic) - East St Louis Toodle-Oo
Sweet Home Chicago (suggested by Kevin Ingraham of California, who mentions that this has been recorded by many artists)
Lester Young - (Back Home In) Indiana (suggested by Kevin Ingraham of California, who mentions that this has also recorded been by other artists)
Albert Hammond (Very Best Of) - Half A Million Miles From Home ("Sitting by a lonely Kansas road, car goes rushing by at the rate of one an hour...")
Lester Flatt And Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Breakdown (the banjo music from Bonnie and Clyde)
Johnny Johnson And The Bandwagon (25 Years Of Rock And Roll 1970) - Blame It On The Pony Express
Pat Metheny And Lyle Mays (As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls) - As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls
Ozark Mountain Daredevils (It'll Shine When It Shines) - Kansas You Fooler
Skywalk (MCA Jazz Sampler '88 Fall Into Winter) - King Of Kansas
Tom Paxton (Ramblin' Boy) - The High Sheriff Of Hazard
Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain
Michelle Shocked (Short Sharp Shocked) - The L And N Don't Stop Here Anymore
J.J. Cale (Naturally) - Magnolia (mention of New Orleans)
Freddy Cannon - Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
The Church (Cooking Vinyl Sampler 7) - Louisiana
Judy Collins (Judith) - City Of New Orleans (about the passenger train service which runs between Chicago and New Orleans)
Richard Dobson And State Of The Heart (Route 66) - Down In Lafayette
Lonnie Donegan - Battle Of New Orleans (there is also a version recorded by Johnny Horton)
Donald Fagen (The Nightfly) - The Nightfly (mention of Baton Rouge)
Bobbie Gentry (The Delta Sweete) - Louisiana Man
Unknown Artist (Truckin') - Jambalya/On The Bayou
Muddy Waters - Going Down Louisiana (suggested by Kevin Ingraham of California, who mentions that this song has also recorded been by other artists)
If you have any more suggestions for this state please email me using the link at the bottom of this page.
Arlo Guthrie (Best Of) - Alice's Restaurant Massacree (mainly set in and around Stockbridge, Massachusetts)
The Standells - Dirty Water (suggested by Kevin Ingraham of California, who explains: "The refrain for Dirty Water is "I love that Dirty Water - Boston you're my home [with many a 'yeah' in there somewhere]")
James Taylor (Flag) - Millworker
James Taylor (Sweet Baby James) - Sweet Baby James ("The first of December was covered in snow / and so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston. / The Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting / with ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go.")
Joshua Kadison (Painted Desert Serenade) - Jessie ("...a trailer down in Mexico")
Bruce Springsteen (The Ghost Of Tom Joad) - Highway 29
James Taylor (Classic Songs) - Mexico
Kane Gang (Miracle) - Motortown
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band (The Distance) - Makin' Thunderbirds
Tom Newman (Bayou Moon) - Furtraders Descending The Missouri
Johnny Cash (Twenty Foot-Tappin' Greats) - Jackson (With Sue Carter)
Bobbie Gentry (Ode To Billie Joe) - Chickasaw County Child
Bobbie Gentry (Greatest Hits) - Mississippi Delta
Bobbie Gentry (Greatest Hits) - Ode To Billie Joe
Bobbie Gentry (Greatest Hits) - Okolona River Bottom Band
Jefferson Starship (The Collection) - St Charles
Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin) - When The Levee Breaks
Don McLean (American Pie) - American Pie ("Drove my Chevvy to the Levee")
Van Morrison (Tupelo Honey) - Tupelo Honey
Alannah Myles (Black Velvet) - Black Velvet ("Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell..."; the song is about Elvis Presley, who was born in Tupelo, Mississippi)
Chris Rea (Dancing Down The Stony Road) - Mississippi
Robbie Robertson (Robbie Robertson) - Somewhere Down The Crazy River
Fred Simon (The Soul Of The Machine) - Time And The River
Bruce Springsteen (The River) - Jackson Cage
William Warfield (The Best From The MGM Musicals) - Ol' Man River
WC Handy - St Louis Blues (suggested by Kevin Ingraham of California)
Wilbert Harrison - Kansas City (suggested by Kevin Ingraham of California, who mentions that this has also recorded been by other artists)
Everything's Up To Date In Kansas City (recorded by many artists)
Philip Aaberg (High Plains) - Marias River Breakdown
Jimmy Buffett (Son Of A Song Of A Sailor Man) - Livingston Saturday Night (there are towns called Livingston in many states, but my thanks to Scott from Butte, Montana, who assures me that this song is about Livingston, Montana)
Jimmy Buffett (Living And Dying In 3/4 Time) - Ringling Ringling (there is also a town called Ringling in Oklahoma, but once again I'm assured by Scott from Butte, Montana that this song is about Ringling, Montana)
John Denver (The John Denver Collection) - Wild Montana Skies
Merle Haggard - Turn Me Loose, Set Me Free (Somewhere In The Middle Of Montana) (kindly suggested by Tom Spika of Moccasin, Montana)
Robbie Robertson (Robbie Robertson) - Showdown At Big Sky
Dan Seals and Marie Osmond - Meet Me In Montana (kindly suggested by Tom Spika of Moccasin, Montana)
Venus Hum (Big Beautiful Sky) - Montana (kindly suggested by Bernard Davis of Birmingham, England)
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Most recently modified 30-Aug-06