a ROCKIN' look at the classic (and the cheesiest) truck drivin' albums

I belong to the American Truck Historical Society--in fact, I consider myself one of the founding members (there are about 25,000 members today). You haven't lived till you've been at an annual ATHS convention, where 400 - 500 restored big rigs from the '20s to the '60s gather.

For a guy like me who's into trucks, it's pure heaven.

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I'm pulling together material on truck driving albums for the ATHS bi-monthly magazine "Wheels of Time," and I thought I'd share with you some of what's turned up, visually speaking.

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The '60s-'70s trucker LP is a genre unto itself. Cheesy, of course. Heartfelt, yes that too. Yet a fantasy to some degree, especially the hitchhiker and truck stop waitress motif. Note that a number of the LPs actually share the same photo session. And it's curious to me that the trucks themselves are not very flashy, and even the choice of the trucks is open to question, visually speaking. I mean, there were better trucks (and better painted trucks) to choose from. I do like the GMC "howler" on the Willis Bros. LPs very much, as well as the B-model Macks ("That's Truckdrivin'"). Cabovers--at least those which ended up on the LPs--meh. But that's one sturdy lass on "Road Music."

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The Starday and King labels are the classics. And the trucker-hero-musicians are Red Simpson, the Willis Brothers, Red Sovine, Dave Dudley, and Jimmy Martin, although very few (if any) actually sat in a cab, much less drove a truck. Note that I've left out "Convoy" and latter-day crappy compilations.

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My all-time favorite is "Widowmaker" because of that bumper. Any of you blog-readers remember others I should include?