Dave Dudley was an American country music singer best known for his truck-driving country anthems of the 1960s and 1970s and his semi-slurred bass. His signature song was "Six Days on the Road," and he is also remembered for "Vietnam Blues," "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun," and "Me and ol' C.B.". Other recordings included Dudley's duet with Tom T. Hall, "Day Drinking," and his own Top 10 hit, "Fireball Rolled A Seven," supposedly based on the career and death of Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts.
Biography
Early life and rise to fame
Born in Spencer, Wisconsin, Dudley had a short career as a semi-professional baseball player. After he suffered an arm injury, he was no longer able to play baseball. He then decided to pursue a career in country music. He was one of the earliest artists to record for the National Recording Corporation, with "Where's There's A Will". Dudley was injured once again in 1960, this time in a car accident, setting back his career in music. He first appeared on the Country charts in 1961 with "Maybe I Do," released by Vee Records. He later moved to Golden Wing Records.
Height of his career
In 1963, "Six Days on the Road" became a hit for Dudley. The song was written by Earl Green and Peanutt Montgomery. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In the original version of the song as recorded by Dudley the lyrics include the words "...I'm taking little white pills and my eyes are open wide..." a reference to the stimulants some truckers used to keep driving when they needed sleep. Some remakes of the song replace these words with a reference to looking at the white lines on the road. In 1963, Dudley moved on to Mercury Records. By the end of 1963, he released his first single from the label, "Last Day in the Mines". Dudley scored more big hits in the 1960s, including "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun", "Trucker's Prayer" and "Anything Leaving Town Today". "Six Days on the Road" was subsequently recorded by several other artists including George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Steve Earle, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Sawyer Brown. Dudley continued to have success into the 1970s, while continuing to record for Mercury Records. He had some Country Top 10s in the 1970s, including "Comin' Down" and "Fly Away Again." By the late 1970s, his success on the charts was beginning to fade, although Dudley amassed thirty-three Top 40 Country hits. In 1978 Dudley's name became known to the audience in Germany after the most successful German country band Truck Stop had a single Top 10 hit in Germany, titled "Ich möcht’ so gern Dave Dudley hör’n".
Late Career and Death
In the 1980s, Dudley continued to record sporadically, and remained popular in concert. During this time, he was elected to the 'Nashville Teamsters Truck Drivers Union', receiving a solid gold membership card from the union. During this time, he also found out that he had a big fan base in Europe, and he decided to try to appeal more to this market. Dudley purchased Staples Lake Resort in the mid 1970s and ran a successful business/resort there until the mid to late 1980s with wife, Marie. During his ownership he also sponsored multiple country music festivals on the property. In total, Dudley recorded more than 70 albums. However, he did not manage to reclaim his past success, and neither his single "Where's That Truck?", recorded with disc jockey Charlie Douglas, nor the track "Dave Dudley, American Trucker", recorded in 2002 in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, helped revive his career. Few of his hits have made it onto CDs and albums, creating a market for his vintage vinyl recordings. Dudley died on December 22, 2003, aged 75, after suffering a heart attack in his car in a parking lot in Danbury, Wisconsin.
