Truckers, Mythical Figures & Hallucinations
The mythologies we tell ourselves matter, authenticity and other light topics
In his seminal book on authenticity in country music, Richard A. Peterson outlines how this genre has relied upon fabricated concepts of what is real country since its very first recordings in the 1920s. He employed a provocative title, “Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity,” to “highlight the fact that authenticity is not inherent in the object or event that is designated authentic.”
Instead, Peterson argues that authenticity is a “socially agreed-upon construct in which the past is to a degree misremembered” (Peterson, 1997, quoting Halbach, On Collective Memory 1992)
Put differently, authenticity is a hell of a drug.
Truckers Slinging Memories
And the genre’s greatest drug dealers sling myths. And within the pantheon of country music, there are so many myths to give you that high.
Yet, not since Hollywood created the Singing Cowboy has there been a better example of a “misremembered past” than the trucker. “There is something of the sailor, the cowboy, and the lumberjack in the trucker's genetics,” a now retired TCU adjunct English professor and folklorist Joyce Gibson Roach wrote in 1971.
The trucker gained cultural notoriety thanks to several socioeconomic factors, like the gas embargos, shifting gender norms and the intensifying Cold War, in the late 1960s and 1970s, culminating in a bevy of blockbuster movies in the 1970s.
And while, like any Hollywood adaptation, the excitement and high drama of these movies were developed, workshopped and tested in writing rooms across Southern California, members of “the trucking industry form a vast fraternity…[with a] common lore which [all] truck drivers possess,” explains Gibson Roach.
Red Simpson, one of the most famous truck song singers, was asked by an actual driver about his experiences behind the wheel, of which he had none, Robert E. Price’s writes in his book, “The Bakersfield Sound.”
According to Price’s telling of this Apocrypha, the real truck driver asked the real storyteller why he built upon these myths, and his response was simple. He did it for the money.
Academic sources from that period suggest that “the style of music which [truckers] enjoy is Country and Western…[a] form of song-making and singing, though much maligned by those who possess musical education, seems about the only style which still expresses and captures the sentiments of people like truck drivers” (Gibson Roach, 1971). Even if it is only to take advantage of the subjects of the songs to sell records.
Between the Mayo and Mustard
The music of trucker songs, at least traditionally, includes several sonic signifiers. The trucker beat — quite literally a rhythm section designed to sound like a truck driving — telecasters, an up-tempo Bakersfield honky tonk vibe and most often, singers who included low tones and spoken word.
But importantly, the lyrical content is about the road from the perspective of a trucker, explained Summer Dean, the current queen of Texas country music.
However, as Gibson Roach notes, most of these songs were not written or performed by truckers. For years, Simpson, Red Sovine, Dave Dudley, Dick Culeress and others created music for a group, using motifs and specific nomenclature not their own.
Shifting Gears
Two generations after the first wave of trucker songs, alt-country once again finds itself exploring the themes of the open road.
Brennen Leigh and Mallory Eagle penned a rip-roaring trucker song about Eagle’s old neighbor, “Carole with an E” — Leigh’s recording of the song and the album it supports landed on countless year-end lists, including “Saving Country Music,” “No Depression,” “Honky Tonk Times,” and, of course, the Country Cutler’s Top Songs of 2023.
Eagle, whose favorite trucker song is “Highway Patrol” by Junior Brown, dropped her version of the song in early 2024.
She explains that the structure of the song itself allows for nuanced storytelling.
“I love how the writing puts you in the driver’s seat,” she said in a recent interview. “The verse sets the scene and the chorus can make you feel you’re pushing down the gas.”
But it’s the trucker’s lived experience that enables writers to further the illusion of authenticity in the story.
“It’s the life of the road and unknown that lends a real dimension to the songs,” she explained. “I love the stories of travelers, but especially truck-driving ones. Their stories take you on a true journey musically and lyrically.”
Truckers seem to “live in true country storytelling,” said Eagle.
“The purpose of any story, song, or oral tradition is to provide the listener with the TL;DR for a dangerous or provocative situation without the hassle of living it,” explains Alex Owen, who performs as Lasers Lasers Birmingham.
“You may have noticed I’m not a truck driver, but I sure-as-shit pull a heavy load,” wrote the senior solutions architect for a data and AI company in his press kit supporting his latest release. “The human condition, much like any truck driver, is chock full of long hours, isolation and risk to personal safety for the sake of what needs a doin’.”
While likely nothing more than a metaphorical heavy load, Owen’s recently released single, “Mystery Highway,” still relies on the perceived universality of driving a truck to authenticate the song within the traditions of country music.
The music draws inspiration from Owen’s personal favorite trucker song, Red Simpson’s “Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves,” as well as “Tomorrow Never Knows” by The Beatles and “Eclipse” by Wooden Shjips.
But the story is a mashup of traditional trucker themes and tropes, variations on those themes influenced by other mythical traditions like Cosmic Country and heavy drug culture and Owen’s self-proclaimed affinity for “weird country music.”
“Imagine if Red Simpson picked up a hitchhiking John Lennon in Joshua Tree just as the drugs started to kick in.”
More traditionally, Jesse Daniel deftly uses trucker themes in his 2020 bangers “Rollin’ On” and “Mayo and The Mustard” and his latest single “Workin’ Hard (Day and Night).” Interestingly, Daniel and his writing partner, fiancée, and business manager, Jodi Lyford, wrote this latest trucker anthem for a Netflix standup comedy special entitled “Workin’ Man,” featuring Dusty Slay, who proudly makes jokes about, rather than having blue-colored jobs.
At Home on the Road
It seems that no country album is complete without a passing reference to the difficulty of living on the road — art, at the very least, reflects life.
As Daniel sings in “Workin’ Hard,” “It ain’t a simple job, but I love what I do.”
Any independent touring musician finds themselves on the road for countless hours, often alone with only big rigs as company. The romantic notion of a modern nomad — a trucker or touring musician — has always fascinated those in what could be considered traditional lifestyles.
“This music has had a long history of being misunderstood and mythologized, often by powerful outsiders,” explained Professor Shana Goldin-Perschback in a 2022 interview for a story in “Honky Tonk Times” about LGBTQ+ country musicians. “The authenticity expectations that came along with these country music myths are so extreme that it's nearly impossible to satisfy them.”
In her book, “Queer Country,” Goldin-Preschback explained that country music explores “life from the vantage point of the everyday concerns of ordinary folks…[telling] stories of a working class that includes…itinerant laborers, cowboys, drifters, strong and sassy women, proud as well as sensitive men, sex workers, alcoholics, outlaws, community organizers, and the elderly.”
These stories are often presented without judgment and by “narrators who may not otherwise get much attention in North American life and who are not always trusted as having valid or truthful stories to tell” (Goldin-Perschbacker, 2022).
Having a venue for these stories is critical for those who need validation and a chance to see their lives represented in popular art. Goldin-Perschbacker explains, “Country music is an important vehicle for telling their stories” (2022).
Willi Carlise’s “Van Life” was born from his close interactions with people on the other side of that fine line between having to and choosing it, he explained in an interview for Issue 17 of “Honky Tonk Times.” The countless songs referencing the long white line, tar snakes, left lanes, lot lizards and more speak of shared experience more than an emulation of Simpson’s economic motivations.
“Write what you know,” explained Mark Twain.
Keep on Truckin’
Much like the continued — if cyclical — popularity of cowboy hats among non-cattle-driving country musicians and fans, the subgenre of trucker songs will likely stick around.
Modern society and technology feed isolation, and now, more people from all walks of life feel forced to carry on alone. The themes of keeping it between the mayo and the mustard on the highway of life remain relevant. Trucker songs give musicians a formula to address these feelings, another outsider’s life experience and explore the unknown.
Sources:
Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity, Peterson, Robert A., University of Chicago Press, 1997.
The Bakersfield Sound: How a Generation of Displaced Okies Revolutionized American Music, Second Edition, Price, Robert E., Heyday, 2018.
Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics. University of North Texas Press, 1971.
Queer Country: Searching for a place within country and Americana music, Goldin-Perschbacher, Shana, University of Illinois Press, 2022
Note: I conducted all the interviews for the “Honky Tonk Times” articles quoted in this piece.