Red Simpson has to be the first
country -- or otherwise -- singer to perform a definitive song about truck drivers from the point of a semi. This is an album by
Simpson the singer, not
Simpson the writer. But that doesn't stop it from being his best record. This is sh*t-kicking
country, bad mother truck-drivin' rollickin' thick black smoke and diesel rot music. Here is the Benzedrine, the coffee, and the overnight layovers in loading docks. The crazier tunes such as
"Nitro Express," "Runaway Truck," "Roll, Truck Roll," and
"Black Smoke a-Blowin' Over 18 Wheels" are anthems, pedal-steel-howling, telecaster-strutting, razor-wire singing odes to the danger and the adrenaline rush of the life. The personal tragedies are recorded as well in
"Where Love Used to Be" and
"Take Me Home." But the
Simpson/
Buck Owens tune,
"Motivatin' Man," is the ultimate truck driver's coat of arms. If this didn't twang so hard it would be a
rock & roll album.
Simpson's baritone spits his words out with the conviction of a man who understands the nature of the biz -- and that doesn't mean music. For those who love hard-drivin', road-trippin', or back-porch-sitting drinking music, this is one classic stack-o-wax. ~ Thom Jurek
