Truck-driving country
| Truck-driving country | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins |
|
Truck-driving country or Trucker country is a subgenre of
It shares some overlap with road music (e.g. Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again", Roger Miller's "King of the Road"), which may or may not involve commercial trucks but carries many of the same themes of the traveling worker. It is not to be confused with the frequent use of the personal-use pickup truck in bro-country, where the vehicle is mainly used as a pick-up device.
Overview
It is, at least partly, an oral history of trucking. A range of social and economic factors in the United States have strongly influenced the evolution of truck-driving country as a subgenre of country music. These factors include industrial dispute, the demographic shift from rural to urban areas,
Technological developments and changes related to both the music business and the trucking industry, however, have brought about the greatest changes to truck-driving country. Variously, these include the
Collectively, there are more than 500 truck-driving country songs, all of which more or less originate from the oral tradition of truck folklore. Occupations, of course, have traditionally provided the raw material and inspiration for folk music in the United States (e.g. riverboat, mining, Great Lakes water commerce, logging, cowboy, railroad, agricultural field work and others), influenced by regional culture as well.[7] Folk songs adopt, adapt, and incorporate colloquialisms, slang, and occupational terms into verbal snapshots. In truck-driving country, such specialized words and terms as truck rodeo, dog house, twin screw, Georgia overdrive, saddle tanks, jake brake, binder and others borrowed from the lingo of truckers are commonly utilized.[8] CB vocabulary – which is different from truck driver lingo[9] – is used by both truckers and the general public. Some of that vocabulary has evolved into popular culture and subsequently incorporated into truck-driving country (e.g. “hammer down," “shakey town," “smokey," and "pedal to the metal").[10]
Detail
There has been a certain mystique attached to truck drivers and commercial trucking in general, especially those engaged in long-distance (over-the-road) driving.[11]
The evolution of technology continues to influence trucking music. Just as truck drivers in the 1970s and 1980s no longer had to rely on
References
- ^ Stern, Jane Trucker, A Portrait of the Last American Cowboy (1975)
- ^ Thanki, Juli. "Country, bluegrass great Wiseman, dead at 93". Vol. 115, no. 56. The Tennessean. p. 1A. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ James Wesley Huguely=Cledus Maggard Retrieved 9 February 2021
- ^ "Dave Dudley". Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ Roach, Joyce Gibson "Diesel Smoke & Dangerous Curves: Folklore of the Trucking Industry" Hunters and Healers (1977) pp. 45–53
- ^ American Truck Historical Society, <www.ATHS.org>
- ^ Danker, Frederick E. "Trucking Songs: A comparison with Traditional Occupational Song" Journal of Country Music (Jan 1978) pp78-89
- ^ Roach, Joyce Gibson Hunters & Healers
- ^ Porter, Bernard H. "Truck Driver Lingo" American Speech (Apr 1942) pp102-105
- ^ Seese, Gwyneth E. (Dandalion) Tijuana Bear in a Smoke'um Up Taxi 1977
- ^ Schroeder, Fred "A Bellyful of Coffee: The Truck Drivin' Man as Folk Hero" Journal of Popular Culture (Spring 1969) pp 679–687
- ^ Johnson, Jon "Watson, George, Holiday" Country Standard Time (Aug/Sept 2000) pp7-9
