Don't use other pin pullers, You could get hurt! 
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Truck drivers' blues -Equalizer Pin Puller
Truck drivers' blues
Older truckers lament the passing of the classic trucker song.
By Ralph Berrier Jr.
981-3338
The Roanoke Times
Ed Powers flipped through the CDs for sale at Troutville's
TravelCenters of
America, a gas-up-and-chow-down kind of place that tractor-trailer
drivers
like him still call a truck stop.
Maybe he was looking for a Red Sovine anthology of truck-driving
songs? A
version of Dave Dudley's classic "Six Days on the Road?" Merle
Haggard's ode
to the gear-jammer, "Movin' On," perhaps?
"Actually, I'm looking for Eminem's 'Encore,'" said Powers, a 39-
year-old
trucker from Maine.
He didn't find Eminem, but he had his choice of other contemporary
hitmakers
Right there, next to the George Jones and Ray Stevens CDs, sat the
recorded
works of noted trucker-anthem-makers Jay-Z, Linkin Park, U2, the
Killers and
Gwen Stefani.
Upon closer inspection, no trucker tributes or versions of "Convoy"
were
found on those discs. They don't write songs about truckers anymore.
Not
like they used to, anyway.
From the 1960s through the '80s, scores of songs were recorded about
18-wheeled gear jockeys with bad cases of white-line fever, hauling
freight
(and other things) and dodging Smokeys with the hammer down. They
were
mostly country songs, often sung by former truckers who traded their
steering wheels and CB radios for guitars and microphones.
Some truck stops still carry a few old cassettes of truck-driving
songs and
backwoods country humor. Finding good compilations of Dave Dudley,
Del
Reeves and Dick Curless songs, however, is as tough as hauling a
load of
cinder blocks up Christiansburg mountain.
Many older truckers lament the passing of the trucker song. To them,
the
lack of songs about the honorabletrucker says something sad about
the state
of their industry and the state of country music.
"People don't think much of us anymore," said trucker Joe Mathis,
56, who
got his start hauling pigs in a 10-wheeler at age 18. In the old
days, songs
were sung about rig-driving heroes "when truckers meant something,"
he said.
Those were the days when many truckers were independent operators
who saw
themselves as cowboys on 18 wheels. Songs about truckers
romanticized the
open road as if it was the Wild West. Nowadays, many truckers drive
for
large fleets and much of the independence has vanished like exhaust,
taking
with it the aura of the cowboy trucker.
That doesn't mean guys still don't look and act the part. Decked out
in
all-black - jeans, boots, shirt and leather vest - save for a red
bandana
tied around his neck, Mathis looked a little like Charles Bronson,
from his
mustache to his tough, serious expression. He drives with his wife,
Linda,
who keeps his books and shares his appreciation for classic country
and rock
'n' roll from the '50s and '60s.
"I'm glad they've still got the tapes," Linda said. "Because we're
still
buying them."
Yet they aren't making those kind of songs anymore, at least not in
the view
of Big John Trimble. In 50 years as a country music disc jockey,
Trimble
played every truck-driving LP and 45 single he got his hands on. He
worked
across the country, including a longtime stint at WRVA in Richmond,
where he
broadcast his show from Jarrell's Truck Stop. He said there's a lack
of
truckers' music not because there aren't enough truckers who
appreciate it,
but because the country music industry has abandoned its roots.
"Country music ended in the early '80s," said Trimble, who still has
a show
on Richmond's WCLM-AM, a low-power station where he buys the airtime
to
broadcast his show. "Country changed. It became more pop-oriented
and too
sophisticated for truckers and the average country listener."
According to virtualtruckroute.com, a Web site devoted to classic
truckers'
music, 118 trucking songs have hit the country charts since 1957,
but none
since Chalee Tennison's "Go Back" in 2000. Trimble said he hasn't
heard a
new trucking song in years, so he plays the classics. He said he
still hears
from many drivers who miss the good old days of AM radio, when
powerful
stations such as Cincinnati's WLW and New Orleans' WWL played
country music.
Now, most of AM is all talk, all the time.
"There ain't no good music on the radio anymore," said Thomas
Passley, a
Missouri driver who was passing through the Roanoke Valley with his
wife,
Sharon Lynn. At 56, he's been trucking for 37 years - since the days
when
going 70 miles an hour with the windows down was your air
conditioning."
He carries tapes of Charley Pride, Hank Williams, Vern Gosdin and
Loretta
Lynn on his journeys. He's considering purchasing a satellite radio
system
for his rig that will allow him to listen to classic country
stations.
Both Sirius and XM satellite radio companies feature trucking
channels. Many
drivers are going the satellite route, although many younger drivers
are
getting it for the rock and comedy channels.
"I don't think the young guys listen to country anymore," said
Trimble. The
veteran DJ said legendary broadcasters Bill Mack and Dave Nemo can
still be
heard on XM's Open Road network.
The history of truck-driving songs is as long as Interstate 40,
stretching
all the way back to the earliest days of commercial recordings.
North Carolinians Guy Brooks and his Red Fox Chasers recorded "Wreck
on the
Mountain Road" in 1928, paving the way for generations of songs
about life,
death and love along the nation's increasingly busy highways. Set to
the
tune of the old train wreck standard, "Wreck of the Old '97," the
song
symbolically marked a milepost in the evolution of the American
songbook,
not to mention American transportation.
Just as passenger trains would eventually be superceded by
automobiles as
Americans' favored vehicle for travel, songs about trains would be
supplanted by songs about cars, trucks and the mythology of the open
road.
As more drivers were hitting the roads in the 1930s, AM radio
started to
catch on. Country music songwriter Ted Daffan realized that long-haul
truckers were among early country's biggest fans, so he penned a
tribute to
the weary drivers called "Truck Driver's Blues" in 1939. The song
became the
first hit record dedicated to trucking and opened the tollgates for
the
genre of truck-driving country music.
Dave Dudley put the pedal to the metal in truck-driving music's
Golden Age
with his 1963 recording of "Six Days on the Road." The tale of a
trucker
racing down the road to see his woman, popping amphetamines to stay
awake
and ignoring all the other truck-stop honeys along the way, "Six
Days"
displayed a grittiness and reality uncommon for popular music of
that era.
Forty years later, it is perhaps the genre's best-known song.
The rest of the '60s and '70s boasted hits like Red
Sovine's "Phantom 309"
and "Teddy Bear," Merle Haggard's "Movin' On," C.W. McCall's novelty
hit
Convoy" and countless other trucking classics. The era passed,
however,
leaving many drivers to listen to their old tapes and recall the old
days.
"Those old songs kindly soothe us," said Mathis, who's been keeping
it
between the white lines for 38 years. "They put us back in time and
get us
ready to go out again."
Older truckers lament the passing of the classic trucker song.
By Ralph Berrier Jr.
981-3338
The Roanoke Times
Ed Powers flipped through the CDs for sale at Troutville's
TravelCenters of
America, a gas-up-and-chow-down kind of place that tractor-trailer
drivers
like him still call a truck stop.
Maybe he was looking for a Red Sovine anthology of truck-driving
songs? A
version of Dave Dudley's classic "Six Days on the Road?" Merle
Haggard's ode
to the gear-jammer, "Movin' On," perhaps?
"Actually, I'm looking for Eminem's 'Encore,'" said Powers, a 39-
year-old
trucker from Maine.
He didn't find Eminem, but he had his choice of other contemporary
hitmakers
Right there, next to the George Jones and Ray Stevens CDs, sat the
recorded
works of noted trucker-anthem-makers Jay-Z, Linkin Park, U2, the
Killers and
Gwen Stefani.
Upon closer inspection, no trucker tributes or versions of "Convoy"
were
found on those discs. They don't write songs about truckers anymore.
Not
like they used to, anyway.
From the 1960s through the '80s, scores of songs were recorded about
18-wheeled gear jockeys with bad cases of white-line fever, hauling
freight
(and other things) and dodging Smokeys with the hammer down. They
were
mostly country songs, often sung by former truckers who traded their
steering wheels and CB radios for guitars and microphones.
Some truck stops still carry a few old cassettes of truck-driving
songs and
backwoods country humor. Finding good compilations of Dave Dudley,
Del
Reeves and Dick Curless songs, however, is as tough as hauling a
load of
cinder blocks up Christiansburg mountain.
Many older truckers lament the passing of the trucker song. To them,
the
lack of songs about the honorabletrucker says something sad about
the state
of their industry and the state of country music.
"People don't think much of us anymore," said trucker Joe Mathis,
56, who
got his start hauling pigs in a 10-wheeler at age 18. In the old
days, songs
were sung about rig-driving heroes "when truckers meant something,"
he said.
Those were the days when many truckers were independent operators
who saw
themselves as cowboys on 18 wheels. Songs about truckers
romanticized the
open road as if it was the Wild West. Nowadays, many truckers drive
for
large fleets and much of the independence has vanished like exhaust,
taking
with it the aura of the cowboy trucker.
That doesn't mean guys still don't look and act the part. Decked out
in
all-black - jeans, boots, shirt and leather vest - save for a red
bandana
tied around his neck, Mathis looked a little like Charles Bronson,
from his
mustache to his tough, serious expression. He drives with his wife,
Linda,
who keeps his books and shares his appreciation for classic country
and rock
'n' roll from the '50s and '60s.
"I'm glad they've still got the tapes," Linda said. "Because we're
still
buying them."
Yet they aren't making those kind of songs anymore, at least not in
the view
of Big John Trimble. In 50 years as a country music disc jockey,
Trimble
played every truck-driving LP and 45 single he got his hands on. He
worked
across the country, including a longtime stint at WRVA in Richmond,
where he
broadcast his show from Jarrell's Truck Stop. He said there's a lack
of
truckers' music not because there aren't enough truckers who
appreciate it,
but because the country music industry has abandoned its roots.
"Country music ended in the early '80s," said Trimble, who still has
a show
on Richmond's WCLM-AM, a low-power station where he buys the airtime
to
broadcast his show. "Country changed. It became more pop-oriented
and too
sophisticated for truckers and the average country listener."
According to virtualtruckroute.com, a Web site devoted to classic
truckers'
music, 118 trucking songs have hit the country charts since 1957,
but none
since Chalee Tennison's "Go Back" in 2000. Trimble said he hasn't
heard a
new trucking song in years, so he plays the classics. He said he
still hears
from many drivers who miss the good old days of AM radio, when
powerful
stations such as Cincinnati's WLW and New Orleans' WWL played
country music.
Now, most of AM is all talk, all the time.
"There ain't no good music on the radio anymore," said Thomas
Passley, a
Missouri driver who was passing through the Roanoke Valley with his
wife,
Sharon Lynn. At 56, he's been trucking for 37 years - since the days
when
going 70 miles an hour with the windows down was your air
conditioning."
He carries tapes of Charley Pride, Hank Williams, Vern Gosdin and
Loretta
Lynn on his journeys. He's considering purchasing a satellite radio
system
for his rig that will allow him to listen to classic country
stations.
Both Sirius and XM satellite radio companies feature trucking
channels. Many
drivers are going the satellite route, although many younger drivers
are
getting it for the rock and comedy channels.
"I don't think the young guys listen to country anymore," said
Trimble. The
veteran DJ said legendary broadcasters Bill Mack and Dave Nemo can
still be
heard on XM's Open Road network.
The history of truck-driving songs is as long as Interstate 40,
stretching
all the way back to the earliest days of commercial recordings.
North Carolinians Guy Brooks and his Red Fox Chasers recorded "Wreck
on the
Mountain Road" in 1928, paving the way for generations of songs
about life,
death and love along the nation's increasingly busy highways. Set to
the
tune of the old train wreck standard, "Wreck of the Old '97," the
song
symbolically marked a milepost in the evolution of the American
songbook,
not to mention American transportation.
Just as passenger trains would eventually be superceded by
automobiles as
Americans' favored vehicle for travel, songs about trains would be
supplanted by songs about cars, trucks and the mythology of the open
road.
As more drivers were hitting the roads in the 1930s, AM radio
started to
catch on. Country music songwriter Ted Daffan realized that long-haul
truckers were among early country's biggest fans, so he penned a
tribute to
the weary drivers called "Truck Driver's Blues" in 1939. The song
became the
first hit record dedicated to trucking and opened the tollgates for
the
genre of truck-driving country music.
Dave Dudley put the pedal to the metal in truck-driving music's
Golden Age
with his 1963 recording of "Six Days on the Road." The tale of a
trucker
racing down the road to see his woman, popping amphetamines to stay
awake
and ignoring all the other truck-stop honeys along the way, "Six
Days"
displayed a grittiness and reality uncommon for popular music of
that era.
Forty years later, it is perhaps the genre's best-known song.
The rest of the '60s and '70s boasted hits like Red
Sovine's "Phantom 309"
and "Teddy Bear," Merle Haggard's "Movin' On," C.W. McCall's novelty
hit
Convoy" and countless other trucking classics. The era passed,
however,
leaving many drivers to listen to their old tapes and recall the old
days.
"Those old songs kindly soothe us," said Mathis, who's been keeping
it
between the white lines for 38 years. "They put us back in time and
get us
ready to go out again."
