"Tobacco Road" is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

song written and first recorded by

John D. Loudermilk John Dee Loudermilk Jr. (March 31, 1934 – September 21, 2016) was an American singer and songwriter. Although he had his own recording career during the 1950s and 1960s, he was primarily known as a songwriter. His best-known songs include "I ...

in December 1959 and released in 1960. This song became a hit for

The Nashville Teens The Nashville Teens are a British rock band, formed in Surrey in 1962. They are best known for their 1964 hit single " Tobacco Road", a top 10 UK hit and a top 20 hit in the United States. Early membership Art Sharp (born Arthur Sharp, 26 May ...

in 1964 and has since become a

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

across several musical genres.

Loudermilk original

Originally framed as a

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

, "Tobacco Road" was a semi-autobiographical tale of growing up in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. Released on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, it was not a hit for Loudermilk, achieving only minor chart success in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Other artists, however, immediately began recording and performing the song.

Nashville Teens hit

The English group

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

rendering was a bold effort featuring prominent

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, electric guitar, and

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

parts and a dual

lead vocal The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate ...

produced it with the same tough-edged-pop feel that he brought to

The Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and ...

' hits. "Tobacco Road" was a trans-Atlantic pop hit in 1964, reaching number 6 on the

UK singles chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 14 on the U.S. singles chart. While the Teens would have some further success in the UK, in the U.S. "Tobacco Road" became another

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...

of the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

. The Jefferson Airplane recorded a version of Tobacco Road on their first album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off in 1966. One of only 2 songs on their first album a member of the band had not written. Takes Off was the only album they recorded with their original lead singer Signe Anderson. Signe, who was a fabulous vocalist for JA, left the band to be a full time parent of her newly born child, which is when JA recruited Grace Slick from the band Great Society. Their sound on Takes Off and on Tobacco Road with Signe was melodic folk rock. However with the addition of Grace Slick the Chrome Nun, who brought White Rabbit with her, they became much more rock and less folk on the next album and kept heading in that direction. British psychedelic band Spooky Tooth recorded a version in 1968 for their debut album, ''

It's All About ''It's All About'' is the 1968 debut album by British band Spooky Tooth, released in the United Kingdom by Island Records on 26 July 1968. In West Germany the record was released by Fontana. The American version of the album, entitled ''Spoo ...

''.

Later versions and uses

In the 1970s, songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman claimed to have been inspired by "Tobacco Road" while writing

The Sweet The Sweet (often shortened to just Sweet), are a British glam rock band that rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer M ...

's "

Block Buster! "Block Buster!" (also sometimes listed as "Blockbuster!") is a 1973 single by Sweet. Written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and produced by Phil Wainman, "Block Buster!" was the band's sole UK No. 1 hit. Released in January 1973, it spent five ...

", after accusations of stealing the guitar riff from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's "

Jean Genie "The Jean Genie" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally released in November 1972 as the lead single to his 1973 album '' Aladdin Sane''. Co-produced by Ken Scott, Bowie recorded it with his backing band the Spiders from ...

". The song became a hit for

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboards, guitar, saxophone, and percussion, as well as singing. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group ...

on his debut album '' Entrance'' and he plays a 17-minute live version of the song on the double LP ''

Roadwork ''Roadwork'' is a thriller novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 1981 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman as a paperback original. It was collected in 1985 in the hardcover omnibus '' The Bachman Books''. The story takes place ...

'' from 1972.

Roy Clark Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer and musician. He is best known for having hosted ''Hee Haw'', a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influen ...

included the song on his 1986 album ''Rockin' in the Country''. His version peaked at number 56 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart.

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

covered the song on his 1986 album

Eat 'Em and Smile ''Eat 'Em and Smile'' is the debut studio album by former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth, released on July 7, 1986, after his unpredicted successful debut EP ''Crazy from the Heat'' (1985). History After releasing ''Crazy from the Heat'', an ...

References

External links

Loudermilk fan site
– extensive history of song and recorded versions. {{Authority control 1960 songs 1964 singles 1970 singles British garage rock songs British blues rock songs Eric Burdon songs War (American band) songs John D. Loudermilk songs David Lee Roth songs Roy Clark songs North Carolina in fiction Songs about roads Songs written by John D. Loudermilk Song recordings produced by Jerry Goldstein (producer) Song recordings produced by Mickie Most Songs about poverty Decca Records singles London Records singles MGM Records singles