I’d heard about this Web site some months ago, but Sean Gleeson’s blog reminded me of it: The Federal Highway Administration maintains a site that catalogues road songs. It’s frequently updated, and you can e-mail to suggest tunes that aren’t on the list.

Giving the site a once-over, it appears Neil Young, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy LaFave, The Kinks, The Doors, James McMurtry and, of course, C.W. “Convoy” McCall are major roadies. Each have more than 10 highway-inspired songs.

According to the site, the king of road songs is Steve Earle, with 26. Bob Dylan is close behind, with 24.

But the site isn’t complete by a long shot. It lists Dave Dudley as having just two, which is way, way low. Dudley, who died in 2003, is frequently described as the “father of truck-driving music,” with his monster hit “Six Days on the Road” jump-starting the genre. Part of the problem is that not many his albums seem to be in print, and compilations remain skimpy or scattershot.

Good ol’ “Route 66,” written by Bobby Troup and first popularized by Nat King Cole, probably is the most-covered road song of all time. Route 66 Magazine keeps a running total of all the artists who’ve recorded it, and when I last checked it numbered more than 180. The All-Music Guide lists 330 references to it, which is by no means complete.

Sony Classical recently released a series of Drive Time CDs, including one for Route 66. Here’s a description of the album:

ROUTE 66. It’s the all-American drive — America’s Main Street, the “mother road” of Easy Rider. Route 66 stretches some 2,400 miles across the vastness of the American West, from Chicago to California. For generations, it was the “way west” for family vacations and serious road trips, where the ride through a timeless, fabulous landscape was punctuated by motels, diners and the exuberant, retro world of mid-century travel. Drive Time - Route 66 is pure Americana, from the evocative “Sunrise” of Ferde Grofe”s Grand Canyon Suite and the heartland sound of Aaron Copland to the macho swagger of classic film themes from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, High Noon and The Magnificent Seven. This is “big sky” music, sprawling and freewheeling, that also highlights the stark beauty and unmistakable feel of the American West.

Here is the track listing:

The series also has CDs inspired by the Pacific Coast Highway, Blue Ridge Parkway and the Autobahn.

Call me skeptical, but I can’t imagine a Route 66 adventure without a more populist soundtrack, like Buck Owens, Woody Guthrie, Beach Boys, Bob Wills, Stax-Volt soul, Red Dirt Rangers, to name a few.