Travelin’ Man

“Travelin’ Man” is best known as a 1961 hit single sung by Ricky Nelson. Singer-songwriter Jerry Fuller wrote it with Sam Cooke in mind, but Cooke’s manager was unimpressed and did not keep the demo, which eventually wound up being passed along to Nelson. His version reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Ventures recorded an instrumental version later that same year, but it was not released. In 1999 their version was finally published. My instrumental version was inspired by theirs, but is not really a cover.

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