The life of a trucker can be lonely, yet full of stories. Seeing parts of America that others will never travel. The origin of trucker songs started in the 1930’s with a combination of blues and storytelling. The genre didn’t catch on until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, with a new breed of singer/songwriters rising in music. Trucker music was born. With stories of the open road, these artists hit a chord with common truckers and their families from everywhere.
Trucker related movies such as “Convoy” and “Smokey and the Bandit” brought trucker songs to the mainstream. People from everyday life were beginning to latch on to the world of truck driving. Presently, trucker artists are few and far between. You may hear a song about trucking, but you’d have to really search to find a band dedicated to the sole purpose of truck driving songs. With the industry rare with dedicated songwriters, we honor those who pioneered the way and lead the charge for the men and women who watch those “little white lines”.
The Willis Brothers
James, Joe, Charles, and later, John Willis were famous for their trucker song ” Give Me Forty Acres (To Turn This Rig Around)”. The Willis Brothers started their careers in the 1930’s as country music stars in Oklahoma as the Oklahoma Wranglers. In 1964, they hit number nine in the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles with ” Give Me Forty Acres (To Turn This Rig Around)”. This song has become a staple of any trucker compilation album produced in the United States.
Dave Dudley
With over seventy albums and dozens of hit songs, Dudley was the trucker anthem king in the 1960’s and 1970’s. His song “Six Days On The Road” hit number two on the billboard charts in 1963. It was his third hit, but his first top ten hit in his career. He followed that with “Cowboy Boots” the same year (1963) on the “Songs About The Working Man Album”. Dudley had dozens more top hits over the years, with “Wish I Had A Nickel” in 1983 being his last. On December 22, 2003, Dudley died after suffering a heart attack at his home in Wisconsin.
“Six Days On The Road” has a famously known misheard lyric frame:
Original:
I’ve got my diesel wound up
And she’s running like never before.
Misheard as:
I’ve got my diesel revved up
She’s a-runnin’ like a Liberty Ford.
Red Sovine
Red Sovine wasn’t just a trucker songwriter, he was a master storyteller that can bring out the strongest emotions in anyone. His gut wrenching stories of the road were full of realism and truth. Disarming and leading the listener through a range of emotions from guilt to sorrow to joy. Sovine wrote and sang from the heart and his emotions poured from the paper to his lyrics. Songs like “Giddy-Up Go” and “Teddy Bear” showed the relationship between a trucker and his child.
“Teddy Bear” sold a million copies in six weeks and climbed the charrts faster than any other song in music history.
Songs like “Phantom 309” and “Little Joe” helped make Red Sovine a bona fide star. He was called the “King of Narration” by his peers.
Red Sovine passed away on April 4, 1980 at the age of sixty-one after suffering a heart attack while driving his van.
