It’s that time again truck drivers – it’s another episode of our popular running series Truck Driver Songs. Here we investigate original versions and modern covers of songs that sing the praises and hardships of the North American truck driver.
This week we go way back to 1970 for some classic country sounds, capped by the smooth deep baritone of Dick Curless. It’s called “Tombstone Every Mile” and you’ll love countin’ em off just like Dick booms over his four piece band.
Curless was considered a pioneer of the trucking music genre, commonly known as the “Baron of Country Music.” Curless wasn’t one who anyone would say lived an easy life. His life was in constant turmoil with conflict and illness – he even had to leave his new wife to go fight the Korean War mere weeks after the honeymoon was over.
In 1965, Curless recorded one of the biggest hits of his career, “A Tombstone Every Mile,” which cracked the top-5 on the Billboard country charts and propelled him to national fame. From 1966 to 1968, he toured the nation with the Buck Owens All American Show. The pinnacle of his career came in the late 1960s with eleven top-40 hits, including “Six Times a Day (the Trains Came Down).” Altogether, he recorded twenty-two Billboard top-40 hits throughout his career.
If you can’t get the video to play in the page, visit the song directly at YouTube here. Enjoy, truck drivers!
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