Essex: A12 aims to oust Route 66

From the archive, first published Monday 16th Jul 2007.

A budding rock star's song about Essex has been making waves in America.

Woody, a singer with London band Device, said their anthemic single Essex County Line could make the A12 as famous as Route 66.

"The single is really personal to me. It's about the journey from your roots to where you are now, and back again," he said.

"I'm originally from the Colchester area, and whenever I cross back over the Essex border at the Dartford Crossing it's always a significant journey for me."

Essex County Line has had massive airplay on US college radio.

"At one point, there were 80 stations playing it from Alaska to Hawaii to New York," said Woody, whose real name is Chris Underwood.

"We've just started promoting it over here. We're getting radio play all over the place, we're just building it up and getting our name known."