Songs About Big Trucks
March 8, 2016 10:36 PM   Subscribe

I'm trying to remember a country music sub-genre specifically about heavy duty semis used to haul extra heavy loads.

I believe one typical subject was the Peterbuilt 357.

These were songs often related to trucks working the coal fields, used to haul massive equipment that regular semis couldn't handle. I think recent songs would involve the Canadian oil fields.

It's a very small subgenre of an already small subgenre (country songs about trucks) of a genre (country).
posted by BenevolentActor to Media & Arts (15 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Yeah, I'm old enough to remember the sort of songs you're talking about, right around the time K-tel records was sort of in its heyday. CB radio was a thing around then, too. Anyway, here's a link to some of them.
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 11:03 PM on March 8, 2016


The strange and wonderful 70s also produced BJ and the Bear, a show about a trucker and a chimp. The wikipedia article touches on the trucker music craze of the time.
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 11:12 PM on March 8, 2016


Response by poster: (Trying not to threadsit, just want to clarify.)

Klaxon, those are a lot of great songs, but aren't what I'm looking for. Those are about standard big rig driving. I'm specifically looking for songs about the larger heavy duty trucks like the 357 6x6. These were typically used up north. And while the genre has a lot of country twang, it also as some up north accents.
posted by BenevolentActor at 11:16 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oops, I misunderstood. Sorry!
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 12:08 AM on March 9, 2016


Please threadsit! I remember country songs from the 70's about CB's and truckers - this was popular at the time. I can't think of what you are referring to...

Did you hear these songs in radio? In movies? Where did you live?? Maybe where you lived and local radio is a clue.
posted by jbenben at 12:22 AM on March 9, 2016


Tony Justice wrote Peterbilt 379
posted by Ideefixe at 12:28 AM on March 9, 2016


Response by poster: More details: these songs would be from 2000+.

I'm pretty sure I heard the first one from a metafilter or a ask.metalifter thread. But I searched and couldn't find it.

Tony Justice is interesting, but he's about long haul trucking. Not what I'm looking for. Plus, his sound is fast and modern. What I'm remembering is accoustic guitar songs about bigger than regular trucks.
posted by BenevolentActor at 12:44 AM on March 9, 2016


this is obvious, and not as specific as you seem to be looking for, but just in case... wikipedia page for truck driving country. some of the references might be interesting.
posted by andrewcooke at 3:38 AM on March 9, 2016


oh, external links has truckmusic.com (history) and virtualtruckroute.com.

but i still can't find a specific subgenre.
posted by andrewcooke at 3:40 AM on March 9, 2016


Could it have been something stemming from this excellent post? "East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'..."

I don't know Fraser Union, but they might be in the right ballpark.

Searching for the Canadian Trucker’s Anthem (list may give you a lead).

Corb Lund's "Roughest Neck Around" gets you into Canadian oilfields, as does "Songs From The Oil Patch."
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:56 AM on March 9, 2016


Possibly you are looking for Rig Rock?
posted by scratch at 5:02 AM on March 9, 2016


How can you bring up Corb Lund without mentioning "The Truck Got Stuck"? /corb derail
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 8:04 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions, but there are a couple of things:
This subsubgenre definitely doesn't deal with long haul trucking. It's all about the massive rigs used to move huge things fairly short distances. So most traditional rig rock / truck country isn't what I'm trying to find.

This is something that was probably originally brought up in a metafilter thread, but I've been searching and haven't been able to find it. (MonkeyToes - that link is close, but too general)
posted by BenevolentActor at 8:57 AM on March 9, 2016


Big Ugly Wheels by The Beat Farmers
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:55 PM on March 9, 2016


Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but there might be some leads to follow: What are the top ten trucking songs of all-time? (Asked on a truck-driver focused website)

And a common term for the trucks you're discussing is "heavy haulers," but I haven't found anything when looking for "heavy hauler songs."
posted by filthy light thief at 8:16 AM on March 11, 2016


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