"Talkin’ Turnpike Blues," Mike’s upbeat ode to life in the not-so-fast lane of the New Jersey Turnpike, is getting its first ride through the Tri-State area’s radio-station circuit.

Some forty stations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania that have acoustic-music programs will receive copies of the CD, "Mike Barris & Delta Sunrise: Swingbilly Blues," in the mail. "Turnpike" occupies track No. 6.

The CD mailings will be timed to coincide with the arrival of the new Oasis CD Acoustic Sampler at the same stations. The sampler, which Virginia-based Oasis will send out to about 500 music contacts nationwide around the end of July, will include Mike’s "Green Trout," which is track No. 7 on "Swingbilly Blues."

"Turnpike" runs 2 minutes, 46 seconds. That’s well under the 3-minute length limit many radio stations impose, increasing the song’s chances of being played on the air.

A letter from "Swingbilly Blues" distributor Pannahill Records will be enclosed, drawing the disc jockeys’ and program directors’ attention to "Turnpike" as a song of great interest to New Jersey listening audiences.

The song, published by Mike’s Beat Borscht Music, recalls Mike’s real-life experiences in the early 1990s driving to work each day between Bridgewater, N.J., and Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

In one verse of the song, the narrator runs over a discarded truck tailgate on the highway and is forced to pull over to yank the sparking hunk of metal out from under the car’s undercarriage.

In another stanza, a hearty Thanksgiving meal turns the drive to work into a desperate search for a bathroom.

Not surprisingly, it stirs an enthusiastic response whenever it is performed in the Garden State.

"It’s such a common thread," Mike says. "Just about everybody in New Jersey can relate to driving the turnpike."

Why didn’t he put it on the Oasis sampler, instead of "Green Trout?"

"’Trout’ (also published by Beat Borscht) is a catchy instrumental with universal appeal," Mike explains. ‘Turnpike’ is about driving a roadway mainly familiar to people in the Tri-State area."

"’Turnpike’ might not appeal to someone in Seattle," he said. "But it’s a natural for people in New York, New Jersey and the turnpike area."

When he performs the song, Mike reinstates one verse that he deliberately left off the CD track. In the verse, a chemical fire forces police to close the Eastern Spur of the turnpike and to divert traffic across Route 3 to the Garden State Parkway.

Mike laments in the lyrics: "Diverted me along the Garden State; which was too bad, I wanted Route 78. Ninety minutes later I was still sitting there, somewhere along Upper Montclair."

Why did he cut it out of the CD?

"Too local," he says.

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MIKE BARRIS & DELTA SUNRISE: SWINGBILLY BLUES

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• About the CD

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