Dave Dudley reigns supreme as the one and only king of trucker's
country music. The tremendous success of his hit single "Six Days on
the Road" in turn beget a whole new genre of country music. Other
trucker's country songs Dave did are "Truck Drivin' Son of a Gun,"
"Trucker's Prayer," "Anything Leaving Town Today," "There Ain't No Easy
Road," and "Two Six Packs Away." Moreover, "Six Days on the Road" has
been covered by such artists as
Steve Earle,
Sawyer Brown,
Red Sovine and
George Thorogood & The Destroyers.
Born David Darwin Pedruska on May 3, 1928, in Spencer, Wisconsin, he
grew up in Stevens Point. He received a guitar as a present from his
father at age 11, but originally wanted to be a baseball pitcher. He
played for the minor-league baseball team the Gainesville Owls. His
budding baseball career was unfortunately cut short by an injury to his
arm. Dave then decided to pursue a career as a country music singer. He
worked briefly as a disc jockey at a Texas radio station and first
began recording music for the National Recording Corporation. He had a
few minor hit singles in the early 1960s prior to striking it big with
his breakthrough smash "Six Days on the Road," which peaked at #2 on
the country charts and cracked the Top 40 pop charts at #32.
Dave enjoyed a steady stream of hits throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He
recorded more than 70 albums throughout his career. Although his songs
failed to chart in the 1980s, he still remained a popular concert
performer in that period. He received an honorary solid gold membership
card from the Teamsters Union local in Nashville (the Teamsters Union
is composed mainly of truck drivers). His songs are featured on the
soundtracks to the films
Vier Freunde (1981) and
Dominick und Eugene (1988).
In addition, Dudley--along with fellow country music singer/songwriter
Tom T. Hall--composed the score for
the road movie comedy
Deadhead Miles (1972) (Dudley and
Hall also sang a duet on the song "Day Drinking").
Dave Dudley died from a heart attack at age 75 on December 22, 2003.
Although he's sadly no longer with us, Dave Dudley's deep, rich,
booming baritone voice and excellent and exciting trucker's country
songs shall forever live on as long as there are 18-wheelers hauling
freight all over the world.
