Truck Driver Songs: Merle Haggard “White Line Fever”

Hey truckers! One of the things truck drivers have in common with musicians is a lot of hard miles on the road. So ever since there have been trucks crossing the bridges and highways of America, musicians fell in love with the idea and wrote songs honoring truck drivers.

The Fender Telecaster helped artists like Haggard cut through limited AM frequencies and brought the guitar to the forefront of country music.

Merle Haggard has been a country music icon for more than 4 decades, singing honest, sad but strangely uplifting songs about everyday people reflecting on their struggles. His hit songs include “Okie From Muskogee,” “My Friends are Gonna Be Strangers,” and “Carolyn.” In all, Haggard has penned or performed 38 certified number one hits, and still continues to perform today.

Merle Haggard was instrumental in creating the “Bakersfield Sound” of country music, along with other top performers like Buck Owens. It came about when Haggard and Owens needed a way for their electric guitar licks to cut through the other instruments in the limited fidelity of AM radio bands.

They found the instrument in Leo Fender’s Telecaster, a solid body workhorse that barked and twanged right through the high mid-range to the forefront of the mix, even in the most limited car audio systems.

So have a listen to an early country standard, truckers. We know you’ll love it.

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