Heard this one on the radio while mowing the lawn yesterday:
Lyrics include:
It’s a lonely stretch of blacktop out into the blue
Ah, gentle reader. As you know, I have vacationed in Arkansas (Hot Springs in in 2017 and Fairfield Bay in 2023 (that long ago already, he asked, nesting parentheses like a programmer)), and I have been to a couple of cybersecurity conferences in Bentonville, and I have been to Berryville in 2021 and in 2024. So I have driven a bit around northwest and central Arkansas, including around Hot Springs, and:
The topography does not lend itself to blacktop extending to the horizon. Probably not even on Interstate 30 which (I just learned, researching this post and discovering it might not be as clever or arch as I thought) runs between the two. It is not Texas or Kansas where the lines are long and straight. It’s curvy and hilly, probably even on the interstate.
Also, of note: In the two-and-a-half hours I spent on mowing part of the yard, I heard three songs that mentioned Little Rock (and not “Little Rock” by Colin Raye, and not “Little Rock” by Reba McEntire which is not about the city). It sure punches above its weight in country and western music, ainna?
I recall I-40 between Memphis and Little Rock being pretty flat with fairly straight stretches
It has been a while since I’ve been to northeast Arkansas–thirty years? But isn’t it river hills and forest over there? My brother lives not far from the state line, and it’s the Mark Twain National Forest out there.
When listening to the song, I thought that the lyrics reflected driving on long straight roads like out of Texas and the southwest. But when I looked, as I said, and saw an interstate connected Dallas with Little Rock, I thought, well, that would be a little wider and straighter.
But I dunno. Maybe I’m just too eager to jump on country singers and songwriters who seem to not live in the country.