SINGING LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND FRANK SINATRA--- U.S. Route 61 (US 61) is the official designation for a United States highway that runs 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from New Orleans, Louisiana, to the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River, and is designated the Great River Road for much of its route. As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus in Wyoming, Minnesota is at an intersection with Interstate 35 (I-35). Prior to 1991, the highway extended north on what is now MN 61 through Duluth to the United States–Canada border near Grand Portage. Its southern terminus in New Orleans is at an intersection with Tulane Avenue at South Broad Street. The highway is often called "The Blues Highway", because of the course it takes from St. Paul to St. Louis, through Memphis, into the Mississippi Delta, and eventually ending in New Orleans. The route was an important north–south connection in the days before the interstate highway system. Many southerners traveled north along US 61 while going to St. Louis, Missouri and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The highway was also used in the title of Minnesota native Bob Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited, and in the song of the same name, which imagines all sorts of fantastical events (including World War III) occurring alongside US 61, and before that a blues song recorded in 1957 by Sunnyland Slim, and in 1962 by Johnny Young.

• published: 15 Apr 2015
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