“Like a lot of country musicians, he had to make a choice between music and baseball. Growing up he played semi-pro ball, he had an arm injury and hung up his mitt, and stepped behind the microphone. He recorded this song in Minneapolis, it came out on the tiny Golden Wing label . He became one of the singing spokesmen for truckers recording songs like ‘Truck Driving Son of a Gun’ and ‘Trucker’s Prayer.’ But this is where it all started, a number two country hit in 1963. This song could not be denied. It even showed up on the pop charts. Here’s Dave Dudley ”‘Six Days on the Road.’” — Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, “Countdown 2”
Mr. D. notes in his “Theme Time” intro that Dave Dudley belongs to that select group of country musicians who might have had baseball careers, an all-star line-up that includes Charley Pride, Garth Brooks, and Tim McGraw.
While not the first truck-driving song, Dudley’s “Six Days on the Road” is credited with kicking off the popular country music trucker subgenre that had its heyday in the ‘60s and ’70s. Released in May 1963, “Six Days on the Road” was Dudley’s first major hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that summer. The record spent 21 weeks on the Country charts, became a minor hit on Top 40 radio stations, and was even #13 on the 1963 Billboard easy listening chart.
A song that could not be denied, as Our Host says on “Theme Time.”
Bob Dylan seems to have a particular fondness for truckers and trucking songs, unsurprisingly, given his choice to spend much of his career on the road. As well as “Six Days,” he played Dick Curless’ “A Tombstone Every Mile” on the “Classic Rock” episode, advising in a closing PSA that drivers should “pull over and get your rest. Don’t be tempted by those little white pills — the crossroads, the greenies, the bennies, the West Coast turnarounds. No matter what they’re called, they spell “Trouble” and that’s with a capital ‘T.’”
On “Tennessee” he played Link Davis’ “Trucker from Tennessee” and followed with a shout-out to his trucking listeners. “We know you truckers were the first ones to get satellite radio. So whether you’re in the Dirty, The Rubber, The Gateway, The Cow Town, the Bikini, Moonpie City, Beantown, The Hanging Gardens, The Panama Canal, The Bermuda Triangle — remember, don’t have a lead foot, the smokies might be watchin’!” And on the holiday episode, Our Host played Red Simpson’s “Truckin’ Trees For Christmas.”
In fact, there are so many trucker songs available that it would have been fairly easy for the crack TTRH research team to put together a playlist ranging from Cliff Bruner & His Boys’ 1939 “Truck Driver Blues” to C.W. McCall’s 1975 “Convoy,” a song so powerful that it spawned the most commercially successful film of Sam Peckinpah’s career.
Played live by Dylan before? Not before its first appearance at Charlotte, NC in 2024. Since then he’s played it two more times on the “Outlaw Music Festival” Tour.
Song played on Theme Time Radio Hour? Yes, on the second “Countdown” show. Incidentally, while several shows were repeated over the three-year run of “Theme Time Radio Hour,” “Countdown” was the only theme that appeared across two different seasons.
Artist(s) played on Theme Time Radio Hour? Just that once.
