Not much seems to have been written about this endearingly eccentric trucker tune from 1965. Billboard‘s September 11, 1965 edition confirms this is strictly a home-grown enterprise:
Singer Lee Rose is promoting his new truck driving record ‘Big Eight-Wheeler, Roll On‘ on Country Hit Records, and on TV spots and personal appearances, offers DJ’s free copies. Write him at Box 212, Henderson, TX.
“Big Eight Wheeler Roll On“
Lee Rose
(1965)
Love the relaxed delivery and imaginative use of time suspension — “back phrasing” a la Willie Nelson, albeit in the extreme. Listen at your own risk. Speaking of which, modern rockers, did you notice that the person who posted this YouTube streaming audio clip is none other than Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre?
That same Billboard edition’s “Nashville Scene” includes one other trucking-related news item:
Singer Dave Dudley, whose “Truck Drivin’ Son-of-a-Gun” is climbing, is scratching his head. There are several artists, he said, who have copied his shotgun guitar style and sound. Recently his parents heard a record, thought it was him. called and said: “Son, when did you start recording under another name?” Dave says for artists to copy his style “is the greatest compliment they can pay me,” but wants everyone to know he records only for Mercury and only under the name Dave Dudley.
The following month, Lee Rose was one of several hundred signatories on a sizeable ad (excerpted below) in promotion of WSM’s upcoming 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Grand Ole Opry published The Tennessean‘s October 14, 1965 edition.
LINK to Truck Driving Songs
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