Project Route 66

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5/4/2010 10:53:00 PM
Mission for the Mother Road


Marney Simon
Staff writer

The Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor festival brought visitors from far and wide over the weekend. It also brought a former local boy with plans to help give back to the historic roadway, in the form of music.

Country music singer Jess McEntire made the tour of the Red Carpet Corridor over the weekend, promoting his Man on a Mission album. The mission that the title of the record refers to is McEntire's plan to give back to the road he grew up on.

"I was raised part of my life here in Braidwood," McEntire said as he and some fellow musicians stopped in at the Braidwood portion of the Red Carpet Corridor event. McEntire went to seventh and eighth grade in Braidwood, and also went to school down the road in Lexington.

"All down Route 66, Mom and Dad traveled this route in search of their pot of gold," McEntire explained. "So I was raised all up and down the road. So I started writing an album about my life."

That album includes tracks with titles such as America's Highway, The Mother Road and Ole Route 66, which was written for McEntire by Loretta Lynn, who joins him on the cut.

"Loretta owes this road to her success, because that's how they promoted their records in the early days, down Route 66," McEnire said. "They would promote the records to all the radio stations and things, then by the time they got to California they'd have a hit. And that would lead out to the rest of the country. So Route 66 helped American music be what it is today, and we want to give something back. It's that simple."


The CD features artists both known and unknown, including a duet between McEntire and Confederate Railroad frontman Danny Shirley. Contributing artists Lynn Easterly and Dustin Reynolds joined McEntire on the weekend trek down Historic Route 66, stopping to sing for crowds in Braidwood, Lexington and Pontiac.

"Our main objective is to give back to the chapters and chambers for the preservation, restoration and tourist awareness," McEntire said. "It is an activity that they can take and do."

To that end, the singer/songwriter is donating the proceeds from sales of his Man on a Mission CD to Project Route 66, a non-profit group working to help fund efforts to rehab and revitalize the Mother Road.

"It's my passion to give something back," McEntire said. "We are trying to raise funds for a national tour... for Project Route 66, to raise money to put back into the road. We want to accomplish this in the next few years."

The CD features country, country rock and rockabilly music, all dedicated to the memories of what McEntire refers to as "the road of dreams." McEntire said the hope is to organize an annual tour of musicians along the road, where profits can go directly back to the towns that support Route 66.

"They've deemed me a man on a mission," McEntire said. "My mother and father both passed away, but my mother got to hear some of this album. The last thing she said to me before she went in for open heart surgery, and she didn't make it through, she wanted me to finish this. She said 'I want you to do all this.'"

More information on the Project Route 66 501(c)3 non-profit organization can be found online at www.projectroute66.com.



- Braidwood Journal