Singer-songwriter leading a Route 66 tour

Fred Eaglesmith, a veteran singer-songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, and other musicians, is the headliner for a Route 66 Tin Can Caravan on the Mother Road in September.

A few details about the tour from the website:

An eighteen-day road trip down Historic Route 66, from Chicago to LA with roots rock icon Fred

Eaglesmith at the helm. Fred and his band in their bus. A chartered motorcoach for Fredheads and friends. Others in vans, campers and vintage vehicles. And – if sufficient demand – a full-fledged Nashville tour bus for fans desiring the Fantasy Tour experience! Folks coming for the whole tour or part. Guest musicians hopping aboard for a few days. At least one show daily -public or private- in every state traversed by Route 66. Be a part of it. It’s going to be wild.

Among the guest musicians participating include Robbie Fulks, Audrey Auld, Jon Dee Graham, Mary Gauthier, and “maybe more.”

A full journey down the Mother Road with Eaglesmith’s gang will cost nearly $4,300, and partial trips range from $989 to $1,289. The fees include admissions, one meal a day, lodging — the whole works.

And the Route 66 tour looks like is going to be the real thing, and not a fly-by-on-the-interstate operation. Here are the things planned:

• Visits to the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum and the Pontiac Car Museum in Pontiac.
• Lunch at the Palms Grill in Atlanta, Ill.
• Visit to Henry’s Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, Ill.
• Barbecue and private show at the Elbow Inn in Devil’s Elbow, Mo.
• Light-night jam at a fire pit at the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Mo.
• Dinner and private show at Cafe on the Route in Baxter Springs, Kan.
• Visits to the Coleman Theater in Miami, Okla., and Afton Station in Afton, Okla.
• Lunch at Clanton’s Cafe in Vinita, Okla., and visiting the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Okla.
• Lunch at either Russ’ Ribs in Bristow, Okla., or Rock Cafe in Stroud, Okla.
• Visit to the Devil’s Rope Barbed Wire Museum in McLean, Texas.
• Lunch at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas.
• At late-night song circle under the neon sign of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M.
• Lunch at the Landmark Grill in Las Vegas, N.M., before a show later in Santa Fe.
• A tour of Acoma Pueblo.
• Tour of the Painted Desert National Park.
• Dinner at La Posada’s Turquoise Room in Winslow, Ariz., with a private concert there.
• Tour of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
• Stops at Grand Canyon Caverns and Hackberry General Store.
• Visits to Goffs Schoolhouse in Goffs, Calif., and the Bottletree Ranch near Oro Grande.

That’s only the partial list. Credit needs to be given to the organizers for putting together a remarkably comprehensive road trip.

For those traveling in their own vehicles, organizers also strongly recommended buying the “Here It Is!” map series, Jerry McClanahan’s “EZ 66 Guide,” and Drew Knowles’ “Route 66 Adventure Handbook.”

UPDATE: I got this message from Charlie Hunter at Roots on the Rails, which is organizing the event:

In the next week, we’ll be putting up single-day caravan tickets (generally $59/day, $49 if people type in “CARAVAN” in the code block) for the whole trip (the link to them will be off of the rootsontherails.com website.