JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is on track to honor a blues and rock legend who sang about being a “road running man.”

A state House passed a bill Thursday designating a stretch of Interstate 55 as the Bo Diddley Memorial Highway, near his birthplace outside McComb.

Born Ellas Bates in December 1928, he was adopted by his mother’s cousin and became Ellas McDaniel. He said grammar school classmates in Chicago nicknamed him Bo Diddley.

His distinctive rhythms and electric guitar distortion influenced a host of rock artists.

Diddley was a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee known for songs such as “I’m a Man,” ”Hey! Bo Diddley” and “Road Runner.” He was 79 when he died in Florida in June 2008.

The highway proposal, House Bill 1018 , moves to the Mississippi Senate.