When you are driving for hours on end sometimes the best way to fill the time is by discovering new music. To start off 2021, we’ve curated a playlist full of recently released songs for your next drive. Each song has lyrics rooted in trucking and sticks to the popular singer-songwriter country style that will keep your tires rolling. Check out the songs from 2020 that we couldn’t stop singing along to in the list below.
1. Bad Mother Trucker
The first song on our playlist is Eric Church’s “Bad Mother Trucker.”
This single was released over the summer and is a country anthem with rock influences, making it a perfect addition to a truck driver’s playlist.
Here’s a taste of the lyrics:
She is hell on wheels where the road meets the rubber
A real gear jammer, a white line wonder
Yeah, you only get one and I wouldn’t want another
‘Cause mama was a bad mother trucker.
2. Get ‘Em Together
“Get ‘Em Together” by Logan Mize and Clare Dunn, who fittingly both have backgrounds in the trucking industry, is a song that has deep roots and authentic appreciation for the profession.
The music video is a real tribute to the trucking world, it begins “somewhere in the Midwest,” and leads both singers on a journey to a truckbed performance.
At the start of the video, Mize and Dunn, who are both long-haul drivers, connect over their truck’s CB radios, with Mize as “Little Logie Bear” and Dunn as “Clare Bear.” They agree to “get ’em together,” road-tripping across the highway to meet up for a performance on top of tractor-trailers in Andale, Kansas.
3. 18-Wheeler (I’m Coming Home)
James Lee Baker’s song, “18- Wheeler (I’m Coming Home) tells the real-life inspired story of a truck driver on the way home to his love. Baker’s classic country style combined with a folk-rock twist gives this song a true trucking sound.
Baker describes the inspiration behind the song:
“My uncle Don was a career truck driver, piloting a big rig all across the country for decades. During some of those years, my aunt would hit the road with him and they would take turns manning the 18-wheeler through most of the states of the U.S. Between the two of them, they have many cool stories from the road. Inspired from a childhood experience of listening to Heywood Banks sing his tune ’18 Wheels’ on the Bob & Tom Show, I wrote this tune—counting down from 18 as a way of saying ‘I’m coming home, darlin, gonna hang these keys up for a while and be with you’—a homage to the lovable, gritty man that my uncle Don is and the tender, kind angel that my aunt Alice is.”
4. Roy
Automobile movie icon John Schneider released an instant hit trucking song last year.
Schneider is best known for his role in “The Dukes of Hazard,” but he also had a small role in the classic trucking movie “Smokey and the Bandit.”
5. It Didn’t Fall from the Sky (Trucking Uncle Sam)
“It Didn’t Fall from the Sky” is a salute to the American trucker.
The music video in support of the song was released by Jesse James Dupree & Dixie Inc in April and it features multiple American truckers.
The song is a tribute to the hard-working U.S. truckers, who deserve all the appreciation after the year they’ve endured. It reminds listeners that the food on their table “didn’t fall from the sky/or magically appear/it was bought here on his back/shifting 10 hard gears.”
6. If It Wasn’t For Trucks
“If It Wasn’t For Trucks” might be about a pick-up truck, but its message rings true for any driver:
If it wasn’t for trucks
I wouldn’t be who I am today
7. TRUCK
“TRUCK” by HARDY is an ode to the character of trucks and what you can learn about someone just by looking at their rig.
8. 42 Miles
Released just last month, “42 Miles” by Casey Donahew tells the story of a broken-down driver yearning to get to his final destination.
This relatable song is a great addition to your queue, especially if you’ve been in the same situation.