Let's Take A Road Trip Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ellas Otha Bates

Bo Diddley was born Ellas Otha Bates in McComb, Mississippi, on December 30, 1928. He was adopted by a relative named Gussie McDaniel and assumed the last name. When he later moved to Chicago he left the name Otha behind as well. He played the violin and trombone in church and didn't take up the guitar until he was in his teens.

He took to playing on the streets for tips and put a band together in the early fifties with Clifton James on drums and Roosevelt Jackson playing bass. He began recording at Chess studios and before long "Hey, Bo Diddley" became a hit.

The origins of the stage name Bo Diddley aren't clear. Bo released "Road Runner" in 1960 on the Checker label. Known for a driving beat and having women guitarists in his band, Bo penned such classics as "Who Do You Love?" and "I'm A Man" along with co-writing the 1957 Mickey and Sylvia hit "Love Is Strange". Bo passed away in 2008 at age 79. Interesting fact; McComb, Mississippi, is also the birthplace of another well known singer, Britney Spears.

Answer: Highway Star

The composition of "Highway Star" is attributed to all the members of the classic Deep Purple lineup of Jon Lord, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Roger Glover and Ritchie Blackmore. According the an interview on the VH1 "Classic Albums" series, the band composed the song on a bus during a tour and refined it when they returned to a Montreux, Switzerland studio to record "Machine Head". "Highway Star" is the fastest song on the "Machine Head" LP.

After the release of the album the band usually opened concerts with the song.

In recent tours the song has become an encore. "Open Road" is done by Byran Adams. "Highway Junkie" is a Gary Allen tune and "Highway Call" is a solo effort by former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickie Betts. Interesting fact; "Machine Head" also contains the single release "Smoke on the Water", chronicling a live performance by the band in Montreux, Switzerland.

Answer: Bachman-Turner Overdrive

"Down the Road" is a road song by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. In 1968 Canned Heat recorded a version of the 1953 Floyd Jones song titled "On the Road Again". The song is a single release from the "Boogie with Canned Heat" album (1968). Alan Wilson was one of the founding members of the band and arranged the band's version of the song that includes a memorable harmonica solo.
In 1980 Willie Nelson composed "On the Road Again" after a request from the producer of the movie "Honeysuckle Rose" approached Willie about writing a song depicting being on the road for the picture's soundtrack.
Bob Dylan wrote a song titled "On the Road Again" for his 1965 album "Bringing It All Back Home". The album contains classic Dylan songs covered by many artists such as "Love Minus Zero", "She Belongs to Me", "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Subterranean Homesick Blues".
Interesting fact; British guitarist Roy Wood released an album titled "On the Road Again" in 1979. He is better known as being one of the founding members of ELO and Wizzard.

Answer: Nat "King" Cole

Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters, Chuck Berry and Scatman John are among the numerous artists to do later versions of the song, but Nat "King" Cole released his version first. In addition to being a songwriter and musician, many people may also remember Bobby Troup from his role as Dr. Early on the seventies television show "Emergency".

He attributes the idea for the song to his wife who accompanied him on an auto trip and thought up the hook line "Get Your Kicks on Route 66". The song is also simply known as "Route 66" and makes references to many of the cities and town along the original Route 66.

In addition to being recorded by several artists, the song has also been on the soundtracks for movies, including Disney's 2006 film "Cars" and the Robin Williams movie "RV" released the same year. Interesting fact: The Rolling Stones recorded a version of "Route 66" on their debut album, "The Rolling Stones".

The album is mostly cover songs except for "Tell Me".

Answer: Truck Driver

Carl Montgomery and Earl Green wrote the song which was originally recorded by Dave Dudley and later covered by Sawyer Brown in 1997. Although there were some minor hits about truck drivers before Dudley released his version, "Six Days on the Road" is considered the first mainstream trucker song and paved the way for similar songs by such artists as Alabama, C. W. McCall and Ronnie Milsap. "Six Days on the Road" hit number two on the Billboard Hot Country Singles in 1963 and even made it into the Billboard Top Forty.

He followed up with "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun" and "Me and ol' C.B.". Dudley continued to be synonymous with trucking songs until his 2003 death. Interesting fact; Singer Steve Earle recorded a version of "Six Days on the Road" for the soundtrack of the 1987 film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles".

He also recorded "Long, Lonesome Highway Blues".

Answer: Honkin' Down the Highway

"Brothers of the Road" is the tenth Allman brothers album and a 1981 single release written by guitarist Dickie Betts. "Midnight Rider" is a cut from the Allman Brothers "Idlewild South" LP released in 1970. Gregg Allman wrote the song. The Betts composition "Ramblin' Man" is on the 1975 double live album "Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas" but was first featured on the 1973 "Brothers and Sisters" LP. "Brothers and Sisters" is the first album completed without Duane Allman after his death.

It reached number one on the album charts. "Ramblin' Man" made it to number two on the Billboard charts the same year. "Honkin' Down the Highway" was done by The Beach Boys. The Brian Wilson song was on their 1977 "Love You" album. Interesting fact; Early names for The Allman Brothers Band include The Escorts and The Allman Joys.

Although they are associated with Georgia, both Greg and Duane were born in Tennessee. Duane's first name is actually Howard.

Answer: The Old Man Down the Road

"The Old Man Down the Road" is from the 1985 Fogerty Warner Brothers album, "Centerfield". The song caused a record industry controversy when Fantasy Records sued Fogerty claiming the chorus was similar to the chorus of "Run Through the Jungle", a song recorded when Fogerty was with Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fantasy Records held the rights to the CCR songs at the time. Fogerty prevailed and even recovered defense costs. "Rock and Roll Girls" and "Centerfield" were also hits from the "Centerfield" album. Fogerty recorded all the instruments and tracks on the album. "Up Around The Bend", "Sweet Hitchhiker" and "Side O' the Road" are CCR recordings. Interesting fact; "Centerfield" is played at Boston's Fenway Park before the first inning of each Red Sox home game.

Answer: False

"Hit the Road Jack" is a tribute to writer Jack Kerouac, author of "On The Road". Louisiana native and singer Percy Mayfield composed the song. He had his own number one song in the early fifties on the R&B charts with his composition, "Please Send Me Someone to Love". After recording for Chess records, Mayfield was signed in 1961 to Ray Charles' own Tangerine label as a songwriter and wrote other songs for Ray, none of which reached the popularity of "Hit the Road Jack". He passed in 1985.
Although "Hit the Road Jack" topped the charts it was not Ray Charles' first number one hit on the US Pop chart. The previous year he placed "Georgia on my Mind" at the top of the charts. Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael composed "Georgia on my Mind".
Interesting fact; The Canadian band The Stampeders recorded a version of "Hit the Road Jack" on their 1976 "Hit the Road" album. The song features a cameo by Wolfman Jack.

Answer: The Doobie Brothers

"Road Angel" is another one of several Doobie Brothers song about the highway. Although the band had previous respectable entries into the Billboard Hot 100 such as "Listen to the Music", "Long Train Running" and China Grove", "Black Water" was the first to hit the top spot. Patrick Simmons wrote "Black Water", which is a single release from their 1974 "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" album. "Rockin' Down the Highway" is from their 1972 "Toulouse Street" LP. "Don't Stop to Watch the Wheels" can be heard on their 1978 "Minute by Minute" LP and "Take Me to the Highway" is from the 2003 compilation album "Divided Highway".
"Walking Down the Road" is a road song by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils.
Interesting fact; Moby Grape's 1969 album "Moby Grape '69" contains a song called "Trucking Man". Skip Spence of Moby Grape introduced Tom Johnston to John Hartman. They would go on to form the nucleus of The Doobie Brothers.

Answer: Eastbound and Down

Dick Feller and Jerry Reed wrote "Eastbound and Down". Dick Feller wrote the song "Bandit", recorded by Reed for the movie and Reed wrote and sang "The Legend", also included in the soundtrack. "Driving Too Fast" was recorded by the Rolling Stones and "Rollin' 'Cross the Country" was recorded by Johnny Winter.

While "Smokey and the Bandit Part III" features Reed returning in the cast lineup, he didn't perform any of the songs on the soundtrack. The main theme, "Buford T. Justice" was performed by Ed Bruce. Lee Greenwood, John Stewart and Bill Summers each had contributions to the soundtrack. Interesting fact; "Texas Bound and Flyin'" is another Jerry Reed recording, but it is on the soundtrack of "Smokey and the Bandit II", released in 1980.