Dave Dudley - The Original Trucker '2024

Tracks list

Dave Dudley (born David Darwin Pedruska, May 3, 1928, Spencer, WI) is the father
of truck driving country music. With his 1963 song “Six Days on the
Road,” he founded a new genre of country music — a variation of
honky tonk and rock-inflected country that concentrated lyrically on the
lifestyles of truck drivers. Dudley had a string of Top 15 singles that ran
through the ’60s, while he continued to have Top 40 hits well into the
’70s, establishing himself as one of the most popular singers of his era.

 ...
At the age of 11, Dudley’s father gave him a guitar, but he had his heart
set on being a baseball player. Throughout his teenage years he played ball,
becoming a member of the Gainesville Owls as a young adult. However, his career
was cut short by an arm injury. Following his retirement from baseball, he
became a DJ at a local Texas station, where he would sometimes play along with
the songs on the air. The station owner encouraged to become a performer, and
Dudley followed the advice.

Dudley moved to Idaho in the early ’50s, where he formed the Dave Dudley
Trio, which didn’t have much success in its seven years together. In
1960, following the breakup of the trio, he moved to Minneapolis, where formed a
group called the Country Gentlemen, which quickly built up a dedicated
following. His career was thrown off track in December of 1960, when he was
struck by a hit-and-run driver as he was packing his guitar into his car. After
several months, he was recovered and managed to secure a record deal with Vee
Records. His first single, “Maybe I Do,” was minor hit in the fall
of 1961 and was followed by another minor hit, “Under Cover of the
Night,” the following year on Jubilee Records.

In the summer of 1963, he had his breakthrough hit, “Six Days on the
Road,” which was released on Golden Wing. The song became a massive
success, peaking at number two on the country charts and making the pop Top 40.
That same year, he signed with Mercury Records, releasing his first single for
the label, “Last Day in the Mines,” by the end of the year.
Throughout the ’60s, he had a long string of truck driving singles,
including “Truck Drivin’ Son-of-a-Gun,”
“Trucker’s Prayer,” “Anything Leaving Town
Today,” “There Ain’t No Easy Run,” and “Two Six
Packs Away.” By the end of the decade, he was also making conservative,
good-old-boy anthems as well.

During the early ’70s, he had several hits — notably the 1971 Top
Ten singles “Comin’ Down” and “Fly Away Again”
— but by the beginning of the ’80s, he was no longer a presence on
the charts. His last hit single was 1980’s “Rolaids, Doan’s
Pills and Preparation H.” During the ’80s and ’90s, Dudley
didn’t record much, but he remained a popular concert draw. And truck
drivers still loved him — the Teamsters Union awarded him an honorary,
solid-gold membership card. Dudley died of a heart attack at his Wisconsin home
on December 12, 2003. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Tracklist:
1 Diesel Smoke
2 Asphalt Cowboy
3 Wish I Had A Nickel
4 Bill Bailey
5 The Wayward Wind
6 Coffee Coffee Coffee
7 Nashville Rodeo Saloon
8 Pop Drove A Diesel
9 Cincinnati
10 One Way Tracks
11 Ridin' Herd On Wheels
12 A Trucker's Prayer
13 California Strawberry Man
14 Down The Road

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