Exhibit at Oklahoma Route 66 Museum takes visitors down history of music for the Mother Road
OKLAHOMA CITY - Getting your kicks on Route 66 been a favourite pastime of travellers near and far for decades. Now, the iconic song by Bobby Troup is part of an exhibit at Oklahoma's Route 66 Museum in Clinton focusing on the music and artists who help bring the famed highway to life.
"Music for the Mother Road: Route 66" features displays and interactive pieces about the history of radio and the popular songs people listened to over the decades as they traversed Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif.
"Music is so much a part of the history of Route 66," said Pat Smith, director of the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, about 85 miles west of Oklahoma City. "It seems very appropriate to represent all the music by the decades."
The museum features a new exhibit every quarter, and for the final months of 2013, museum staff decided to feature the tunes of a hodgepodge of singers and musicians. Artists and songs featured include Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere," Woody Guthrie's "Will Rogers Highway" and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Road Trippin'."
As visitors enter the exhibit room, not only will they see the exhibit but they'll hear it. Music playing throughout the room will take visitors back decades, while artifacts and interactive pieces will teach them about some of the artists who helped make Route 66 famous.
The exhibit will be open through the end of the year.
