Longtime country-music singer Del Reeves, best-known for his million-selling single “Girl on the Billboard” in 1965, died at age 74 after a long illness, reports the Associated Press.

“Girl on the Billboard” is an all-time-classic truck-driving song, with these final lyrics that warm the hearts of Mother Road fans:

On Route 66 from the billboard to Chicago
You’ll find tiny pieces of my heart scattered every which-a way
Scattered by the girl wearing nothing but a smile
and a towel in the picture on the billboard
in the field near the big old highway

YouTube had a video of Reeves performing “Girl on the Billboard” some months ago, but it appears to have been taken down. You can hear an audio clip of the song here.

Also, the country-rock band The Road Hammers recorded a mostly faithful cover of “Girl on the Billboard,” which can be seen here:

The Road Hammers already have paid tribute to Reeves on their site:

Jason McCoy remarked, “when we were putting together the Road Hammers album, we wanted to find songs that were in the true spirit of trucker music, but one transcended the genre. “Girl On The Billboard” was timeless, classic, and cool….that was Del Reeves….he was one of a kind, and he will be missed.”

Also, Harley Russell of the Sandhills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Okla., was a guitarist for Reeves some years ago. Hopefully, Harley will weigh in with a few stories about Reeves when he gets the chance.

UPDATE: Since the announcement of Reeves’ death, about a dozen music videos have trickled into YouTube. There’s no “Girl on the Billboard” yet, but there are a bunch of honky-tonk songs that are well worth your time, including this terrific performance of “Back Row” on Porter Wagoner’s TV show:

To see more Del Reeves videos, go here.

The Arizona Republic has named the top 10 travel spots in the state.

One of them was Route 66, and the newspaper compiled a list of things to do on the Mother Road, where to eat and where to stay (although I wish it hadn’t chose a chain hotel in Kingman when historic mom-and-pops were available).

Also on the top 10 are side trips commonly associated with the Mother Road, such as the No. 1-rated Grand Canyon and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff.

I hadn’t heard much lately about Harland Williams‘ animated film project, “Route 66.” According to the last update on the IMDB site, Williams’ movie was slated to be released this year.

But a reader pointed out this excerpt in Punchline Magazine, which interviewed Williams:

He recently began the painstakingly long process of directing his own animated DreamWorks film, Route 66, about a roadside golf-ball statue that sets out to find a giant blueberry named Betty— the statue’s true love that goes missing. “This is like my little baby. I showed some of my artwork to Jeffrey Katzenberg recently, and he really loved it,” he says. “But it’s a lengthy process and it’s all kept pretty hush-hush. It’s not even slated to come out until 2010.”

DreamWorks may have delayed production so it wouldn’t come out so soon after another Route 66-themed movie, “Cars.” But Williams has so many irons in the fire (check out his Web site to see all the stuff he’s doing), he simply may not have had time to finish it as originally scheduled.

Three pieces of Route 66 were recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.

One is the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which links Madison, Ill., to north St. Louis over the Mississippi River. It was designated on Dec. 1. This story in the Suburban Journals of St. Louis provides a nice overview of the bridge’s history. It’s been closed to traffic for decades, but it’s now a bicycle and pedestrian trail.

And, according to this Dec. 29 news release from the National Register, the McLean Historic Commercial District in the Route 66 town of McLean, Texas, was placed on the Register.

In the same week, the Maplewood Commercial Historic District in Maplewood, Mo., which is on the old Manchester Boulevard alignment of Route 66, was listed on the Register.