The German car manufacturer Audi has selected an unusual piece of music to highlight the light and agile properties of the new A6 Avant estate. The highly stylised TV and Internet advertisement depicts a fantasy world and features a metallic "Audi hummingbird” which is able to nimbly fly among trees, flowers and fauna made from petrol pumps, road signs and traffic cones.

The soundtrack for this innovative advert is a 1939 recording of 'Open Road' by Johann Strauss, sung by American baritone John Charles Thomas. This transfer was originally released by Nimbus Records on the Prima Voce Series in 1992 on a CD titled “An American Classic” which featured 22 popular songs recorded by John Charles Thomas between 1931 and 1941.

For decades, John Charles Thomas was the most popular singer in America. A rare singer who could sing 'Boots and Saddles' and Beethoven's In Questa Tomba Oscura with equal aplomb, Thomas had a voice as rich as a cello, the physique of an athlete, and natural charm.

He achieved enormous popularity as a matinee idol before achieving success as a concert artist and operatic star. But the stage and radio were only parts of a romantically active life. John Charles Thomas loved automobiles, raced hydroplanes, played a mean game of golf, raised chickens and champion hogs, and was famous for his spaghetti sauce.