Dave Dudley
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Dave Dudley (born David Darwin Pedruska; May 3, 1928 – December 22, 2003) was an American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
singer best known for his truck-driving country anthems of the 1960s and 1970s and his semi-slurred bass. His
signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...
was "
Six Days on the Road "Six Days on the Road" is an American song written by Earl Green and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio songwriter Carl Montgomery, made famous by country music singer Dave Dudley. The song was initially recorded by Paul Davis (not the same as the better ...
", 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 A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...
with
Tom T. Hall Thomas Hall (May 25, 1936 – August 20, 2021), known professionally as Tom T. Hall and informally nicknamed "the Storyteller," was an American country music singer-songwriter and short-story author. He wrote 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more ...
, "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 Spencer is a village in Marathon County, Wisconsin. It is part of the Wausau, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,925 at the 2010 census. The village, which lies between two marshes (Spencer Marsh to the northwest and Mc ...
, United States, Dudley's grandparents came from
Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
in East Prussia, Germany. At the age of 11, he was given a guitar by his grandfather and learned to play the chords. He 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" (1959). 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 Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
. 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 (and make their delivery times) 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 Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
. 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 George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs " Bad to th ...
,
Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...
,
The Flying Burrito Brothers The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chris ...
and
Sawyer Brown Sawyer Brown is an American country music band. It was founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by Mark Miller (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard (keyboards, vocals), Bobby Randall (lead guitar, vocals), Joe "Curly" Smyth (drums), and ...
. 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 German country band
Truck Stop A truck stop, known as a service station in the United Kingdom, and a travel center by major chains in the United States, is a commercial facility which provides refueling, rest (parking), and often ready-made food and other services to motori ...
had a single Top 10 hit in Germany, titled "Ich möcht’ so gern Dave Dudley hör’n" ("I would like to listen to Dave Dudley so much, to
Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...
and
Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Reco ...
").


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 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, 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.


Discography


Albums


Singles

*APeaked at No. 13 on Easy Listening (now
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...
).


References


Other sources

* ''Country Music: The Rough Guide''; Wolff, Kurt; Penguin Publishing


External links


Dudley profiled in WFMU's Diesel Sniffing Series

CMT.com: "Six Days on the Road" Singer Dave Dudley dead at 75
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley, Dave 1928 births 2003 deaths People from Spencer, Wisconsin American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Country musicians from Wisconsin National Recording Corporation artists Jubilee Records artists Starday Records artists Mercury Records artists 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers American people of German descent Singer-songwriters from Wisconsin