The Momma 'n' Daddy Collection 63

Has it really been more than two weeks? You must be desperate. Apologies. OK, well, home isn't always the sort of place you think it is, but even on the 'Hillbilly Highway' there's no denying the influence of the big M and D, and occasionally the big Gs - as Steve Earle will tell you:

My Grandaddy was a miner, but he finally saw the light
He didn't have much, just a beat-up truck and a dream about a better life
Grandmama cried when she waved goodbye, you never heard such a lonesome sound
Pretty soon the dirt road turned into blacktop, Detroit city bound

Down that hillbilly highway
On that hillbilly highway
That old hillbilly highway
Goes on and on

Now, he worked and saved his money so that one day he might send
My old man off to college, to use his brains and not his hands
Grandmama cried when he said goodbye, you never heard such a lonesome sound
But Daddy had himself a good job in Houston, one more rollin' down

That old hillbilly highway
That old hillbilly highway
That old hillbilly highway
Goes on and on (on and on and on)

Now Grandaddy rolled over in his grave the day that I quit school
I just sat around the house playin' my guitar, and Daddy said I was a fool
My Mama cried when I said goodbye, you never heard such a lonesome sound
Now I'm standin' on this highway and if you're going my way
You know where I'm bound

Down that hillbilly highway
On that hillbilly highway
That old hillbilly highway
Goes on and on

Yeah, that's rollin' on...

Rollin' on and on, the hillbilly highway and the great highway of the generations. From an album which, if you haven't got it, you certainly ought to have.

[The Momma 'n' Daddy Archive, containing all the details of the series, is here.]