Route 66 Theme Song Guitarist

[Jack Hanson]

I am busy working up a medley combining "Route 66" by Bobby Troup and the theme song from the TV show by Nelson Riddle. The cool, twangy, reverberated guitar in the theme song just knocks me out. Anyone know who played the guitar on Riddle's original recording? Guessing it had to be someone from the Wrecking Crew, like Howard Roberts, Billy Strange, Tom Tedesco, Barney Kessel, or??? Anyone know for sure?

For those of you too young to remember, "Route 66" was an old black and white drama starring an early '60s Chevrolet Corvette convertible. The story goes that using Troup's original song was originally considered, but the show's producers commissioned Riddle to write a totally new song to avoid paying royalties to Bob Troup.

[robert kramer]

Al Caiola

[Jack Hanson]

Thank you, robert.

Should have guessed Al Cailoa in the first place. One listen to the outro on Glen Campbell's "Galveston" should have been a dead giveaway. And when you consider his contributions to the theme songs from "Bonanza" and "The Magnificent Seven" (aka Marlboro commercial), it's a no-brainer.

As a side note, I remember the Al Caiola model Epiphones out of Kalamazoo -- looked like an ES-330/335 without f-holes and had that strange control panel with all the switches. Don't see too many of 'em nowadays.

[robert kramer]

I forgot to post the "Route 66 Theme."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw1tiNGQ4wI

Nelson Riddle got the lick from Bird's "Another Hair Do."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fh69EA3xl4

There's an endless supply of cool licks from those arrangers: Nelson Riddle, Alex North, Henry Mancini, Pete Rugalo, Quincy Jones. Simplified - accessible - fake jazz. A great genre of music.

[Donny Hinson]

For those of you too young to remember, "Route 66" was an old black and white drama starring an early '60s Chevrolet Corvette convertible. The story goes that using Troup's original song was originally considered, but the show's producers commissioned Riddle to write a totally new song to avoid paying royalties to Bob Troup.

In a similar fashion, Paramount commissioned Gene Pitney to sing a theme song (written by Burt Bacharach) for the movie "Liberty Valance". But when the movie was completed, director John Ford said he hated the song, and demanded the use of some stock music that had been made for an old Henry Fonda movie about Abraham Lincoln. I remember reading about it, back in the day, and Pitney was pretty angry about the decision.

[Rick Schmidt]

The older I get (I'm 62), the more these theme songs from my childhood get to me where I live. Mr. Lucky, M Squad, Playboy After Dark, Peter Gunn, Adventures in Paradise, Sea Hunt, Route 66, and the list goes on are on my desert island play list.