Kris Rutherford

About Kris Rutherford: Since retiring from a career as an outdoor recreation professional from the State of Arkansas, Kris Rutherford has worked as a freelance writer and, with his wife, owns and publishes a small Northeast Texas newspaper, The Roxton Progress. Kris has worked as a ghostwriter and editor and has authored seven books of his own. He became interested in the trucking industry as a child in the 1970s when his family traveled the interstates twice a year between their home in Maine and their native Texas. He has been a classic country music enthusiast since the age of nine when he developed a special interest in trucking songs.

Posts by Kris Rutherford

Poised for recovery: Mergers & acquisitions on pace for normalization in 2025

By Kris Rutherford - March 6, 2025

The freight recession that gripped the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry for the past 32 months is fading, and analysts in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) sector are focusing on one word in 2025: Normalization. According to the M&A experts at Tenney Group, the market appeared to loosen in late 2024. During a recent webinar hosted by the Truckload Carriers Association, attendees were cautioned that freight recovery is not complete. The process is ongoing and slower than many analysts anticipated. The good news Early 2025 trends are promising, and a positive trajectory is evident. “I think (recovery) is still yet to be determined fully,” said Beau McGinnis, a senior associate at Tenney Group. “But from a freight perspective, a rate perspective and an M&A perspective, things are trending in the right direction.” A lot of deals made headlines during 2024 the year; however, most of those M&As occurred in the second half of the year following a sluggish start, and much of the activity focused on diversification. “When a company’s trying to diversify their service offerings and get into a new sector … it helps to have clear evidence the company is differentiated,” said Spencer Tenney, CEO and President at Tenney Group. The freight recession has had a major impact on the trucking industry over the past year, as have interest rates and record inflation. In addition, the residual effects of what analysts refer to as “traumatic activity” had a profound influence in the M&A sector during 2024. However, that began to change in the second half of the year. The profit/loss factor One of the major barriers to finalizing deals earlier in 2024 was the profit and loss (P&L) margin. While P&L was on course for stabilization, it had to reach the point buyers and sellers aligned on valuation and structure. “Sellers and buyers self-elected out of the M&A process until conditions began to normalize,” Tenney said. The point is evident in data indicating M&A activity of $39 billion in the first half of 2024 as compared to nearly $52 billion in the second half, McGinnis noted. As profit and loss normalized, company earnings strengthened, leading to higher deal enterprise values and volume increase. Elevated operating expenses also impacted 2024 trends. For instance, the cost of non-production staff positions increased over 2023. These and other expense categories made comfort among buyers and sellers rare. “There’s a direct correlation to rising operational costs and new buyers getting into the game using acquisitions as a way to expand their growth playbook,” Tenney said, adding that a “new formula” is needed to create profits. Companies that specialized or fit into a specific niche fared better than traditional OTR carriers when it came to M&A. These firms survived the volatility of the freight market and were better positioned for involvement in acquisitions. General OTR carriers were not excluded from the M&A process, but they didn’t fare as well as those offering specialization. “There’s a difference between being specialized (just) to be specialized and being specialized to present value-added services for customers in the marketplace for other companies,” McGinnis said. M&A outlook for 2025 So, what does all this mean for M&A activity in 2025? Once again, the industry is looking forward to “normalization.” Promising trends from 2024 are expected to carry over to the current year. However, there’s still call for caution in the M&A sector this year. First, analysts caution about the new presidential administration and the costs of change. Overoptimism is a concern. “I think it’s positive knowing where we stand from a political standpoint,” Tenney said. “Most people think there will be a favorable political and regulatory environment. There will be specific losers, but most (carriers) will probably perform pretty well and be insulated.” Another concern focuses on smaller carriers whose business is tied up in assets. Many of these companies hope to ride positive movements brought on by the new administration with hopes they will advance or enhance a future exit from the industry. If too many of these types of operations double down on expectations, there will be losers. For those seeking acquisitions, losers will be converted to a positive return. Expect a volume spike Analysts expect 2025 market conditions to drive a volume spike. McGinnis says he doesn’t believe conditions have to get considerably better on the freight market because everything else is leveling out. “We don’t need perfect conditions; we just need stable conditions. That’s what we have right now,” he said. “We can move forward with the understanding that we have, and buyers and sellers can align on deal activity.” This “rush of inventory” will be accompanied by an anticipated increase in freight volume, something that will further encourage M&A activity. With improved M&A conditions, financial buyers — those who are not in the T&L business — may enter the fray when they see opportunities to diversify. McGinnis notes that interest from private equity and other financial buyers has been substantial of late. However, it’s important to note that 80% of interest in M&A comes from buyers purchasing strategically within the existing space. This statistic is a positive one for those considering an exit from the T&L sector. Innovation and “deal fatigue” will also impact the sector in 2025. The progression of innovation in the industry is going to allow some firms to be more successful than others, and for those who want to exit, deal fatigue is often an issue. When combining the costs of nuclear verdicts, cargo theft and fraud, smaller carriers are going to want to leave the industry and stand ready to be acquired following a three-year recession when selling out didn’t seem possible. Finally, both McGinnis and Tenney agree that 2025 will bring some big winners on the M&A front. “One thing I have taken away from the last year is that trends that started in 2024 will continue in 2025, particularly in terms of specific sub-verticals within the industry,” McGinnis said, referring to the specialized market. “We are poised to have a lot of activity.” This story was published in the March/April 2025 edition of Truckload Authority magazine, the official publication of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA).

Contemporary recording artist Phil Vassar provides long line of ‘classic country’

By Kris Rutherford - February 27, 2025

Phil Vassar first appeared on the country music scene in the late 1990s. That doesn’t exactly place him in my category of “classic” country. However, he’s older than me … so that makes him a classic in my book. Plus, it’s hard to ignore his discography when it comes to some of the best music of the past 30 years. Just “American Child,” an autobiographical hit suggests, Phillip George Vassar was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1962. An accomplished athlete, he earned a track scholarship to James Madison University in Harrisonburg in Northern Virginia. During his time at university, however, he took up the piano — and he became genuinely interested in music. He later decided to pursue his new passion as a career. He traveled to Nashville, where he played the piano and performed original songs in local clubs. One listener took a special interest in Vassar’s music and took a demo tape to his father, who just happened to be easy-listening crooner Engelbert Humperdinck. The star, who had by then had many hit songs of his own, took a special liking to the tune “Once in a While,” a song Vassar had co-written. It was the break the young singer-songwriter needed. In short order, Vassar signed a publishing contract with EMI and began churning out hit records for artists ranging from Collin Raye (“Little Red Rodeo”) to Jo Dee Messina (“I’m Alright”). Other hit makers like Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson and Blackhawk also recorded his music. Once he broke into the business, Vassar’s path to success was short and quick. By 1999, when he was a performer for Arista Records, he took home ASCAP’s songwriter of the year award. His first album, simply titled “Phil Vassar,” produced the Top 5 hit “Carlene,” a song about running into an old high school acquaintance years after graduation. He followed it up with his first No. 1 song, “Just Another Day in Paradise.” Two other songs from the album — “That’s When I Love You” and “Six Pack Summer” — also reached the Top 10. That first album sold half a million copies and was certified Gold. His follow-up album, “American Child,” was released in 2002. The title track earned Vassar another Top 5 hit. When reviewing the album “American Child,” country music critic Rick Cohoon credited Vassar with a “solid, enjoyable effort with few flaws.” “What makes Phil Vassar a true find in today’s Nashville climate is his rock-solid ability to pen a convincing song and then turn around and sing it in an equally convincing manner,” Cohoon wrote. “His writing has been embraced by everyone from Alan Jackson to Cledus T. Judd to Engelbert Humperdinck. Vassar’s sophomore album on Arista Records, ‘American Child,’ is exactly what he wants it to be: 12 songs that he had a hand in writing and knew he could convey to his audience.” While “American Child” only produced two hit songs — the title track and “This is God” — the significance of the title single in the early 2000’s cannot be ignored. While many artists, particular those in the country vein, rode the wave of patriotism following 9/11 to hit song after hit song, Vassar was a little more subtle in his praises for his home country. Unlike Toby Keith’s “in your face” patriotism and Alan Jackson’s classic “When the World Stop Turning,” “American Child” wasn’t a direct reference to the terrorist attacks — but it did get Vassar’s point across about the virtues of growing up in the United States. His lyrics, “I was ten, I was thin, I was playing first base, with a secondhand glove, and dirt on my face,” gave a sense of Americana to which most listeners could relate. “419 Lakewood had no silver spoons, just an old beat-up upright that played out of tune,” revealed that Vassar was just an ordinary person in an ordinary town. Then he proved the value of the American dream with the lyric, “Now, I’m singing and living the life that I love.” If you ask me, “American Child” ought to be required material for any country music fan’s playlist. Vassar’s next album, “Shaken, Not Stirred,” produced only one hit — but it was a good one. “In a Real Love,” shot to No. 1. Just three albums and five years into his recording career, Vassar released a Greatest Hits album chronicling his career thus far; but the album also included a new song, the No. 2 hit “Last Day of My Life.” The fact that Vassar only released a few albums early in his career was not because of lack of production; rather, it was due to the quality of the songwriting. Recording his own material, Vassar churned out song after song, and many of them were released as singles. His next album, “Prayer of a Common Man,” produced another hit single — “Love is a Beautiful Thing,” a song that carried him to No. 2 on the charts. The album hit No. 3 on the U.S. Charts, Vassar’s top performing record. Following “Prayer of a Common Man,” Vassar’s recording career slowed. He released two more albums between 2009 and 2011, neither of which received significant airplay or produced hit songs. Since then, he has released only two additional albums, both with similar results. But by no means did he slow down. He continued to perform live around the country throughout the 2010s, and his appearances on television kept him in the limelight. In addition, throughout the decade he continued to produce material for other artists like Kenny Chesney, Neil McCoy, Kenny Rogers and even accomplished songwriters like Skip Ewing. For all Phil Vassar has achieved in his career, it almost came crashing down in 2023 when the 62-year-old performer suffered a heart attack. As he told “Taste of Country,” he actually died twice during the ordeal, but eleven shocks from the paddles of life brought him back. “I just had genetic heart disease,” he shared. “I wasn’t a drinker and a partier, or any of that. I worked out every day. You know, I kept feeling bad so I kept really concentrating on my health and trying to — I never ate anything fried or anything like that. Never did. It just caught up with me, you know, the genes.” The heart attack was followed by a stroke during which Vassar was clinically dead for 30 minutes. “Thank goodness for medicine,” he said. Needless to say, Vassar’s touring and recording schedule has slowed in the months since his medical ordeal, but he still appears regularly at various venues fairly. Until next time, perhaps Staci Zaretsky, editor of James Madison University’s “Above the Law” said it best: “Phil Vassar is a poet, and if you can’t get through your day by listening to his beautiful words, you are a monster.”

From the racetrack to the US highway system: Carl Fisher paved the way for commercial transportation

By Kris Rutherford - March 12, 2025

Ever heard of Carl G. Fisher? If the answer is “no,” let me ask another question: Have you ever heard of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or driven along one of the many routes along the U.S. highway system? Assuming the general response to the second query is “yes,” let me share a little story. Humble Beginnings Carl G. Fisher was an unlikely transportation entrepreneur. Born in Greensburg, Indiana, in 1874, Fisher suffered from extreme astigmatism in both eyes. From childhood, his eyesight caused issues ranging from severe headaches to blurred vision. Needless to say, between the headaches and the poor vision, he had trouble paying attention in school. At age 12, he dropped out and went to work to help support his family, which had been abandoned by an alcoholic father. Over the next few years, young Fisher worked in grocery markets and bookstores, eventually becoming a salesman of newspapers, books, tobacco and candy on trains headed out of Indianapolis. In 1891, Fisher and his brothers opened a bicycle repair shop. It was Fisher’s first of many ventures into the transportation business. He soon became involved in bicycle racing, a precursor to an interest in automobile racing, which burgeoned at the turn of the 20th century. An Innovative Invention Before the automobile became Fisher’s obsession, however, he and a friend first helped perfect the acetylene headlight — a decade before the electric headlight came along. In fact, Fisher’s business supplied virtually every headlight used in every automobile in the U.S. When he and his partner sold their headlight company to Union Carbide for $9 million, Fisher suddenly found himself a very wealthy man. The Birth of ‘The Brickyard’ and the Indy 500 While living in Indianapolis in the early 1900s, Fisher operated what has been referred to as the first automobile dealership in the U.S. But his interests went far beyond selling motorized vehicles to the public. Carl Fisher loved racing, and he sponsored race cars in addition to racing himself. It’s only natural that he had a vested interest in developing dedicated racecourses where automobiles could safely race in front of spectators — who could be equally safe while watching the races. The result was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.5-mile-long circuit that Fisher opened in 1909. In short order, the racetrack, then known as “The Brickyard” because of its brick-paved surface back in the day, became the preeminent leader as a testing ground for automobiles and racing. Surprisingly, the first event at the speedway was not an automobile race: It was a helium-filled balloon competition, another foray Fisher took into the transportation business. In fact, later that year, Fisher and a partner planned a Trans-Atlantic balloon crossing; however, the effort apparently never made it to fruition. From the Racetrack to the Road With the success of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Fisher next set his sights on building roads to handle the growing automobile traffic across the U.S. In 1912, he proposed a trans-continental highway that would cross the country, beginning at Times Square in New York City and end at San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. Fisher called the transportation corridor the “Lincoln Highway,” named not after its terminus point but rather after Fisher’s favorite president, Abraham Lincoln. The highway’s original route passed through 13 states — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. Some 700 cities and towns sat along the route, and the economic benefit for each community was impressive. Originally 3,389 miles long, the Lincoln Highway was well developed in some areas … but it was a muddy quagmire in others. The U.S. Army effectively demonstrated the high and low points of the route in 1919 when it staged an east-west convoy across the country. In fact, Dwight D. Eisenhower, future WWII general and president of the U.S., is thought to have developed his dream of the U.S. interstate system while participating in the convoy. Even though the Lincoln Highway had its difficulties, for automobiles it was the equivalent of a transcontinental railway — and it improved over the years. Eventually, a large portion of the highway became U.S. Route 30, from Pennsylvania to Wyoming. The highway was ultimately replaced by Interstate 80, today’s primary northern east-west route across the country. Moving Freight Across the Country Throughout its more-than-a century history, the route has been vital to U.S. commerce and has served as a major transportation route for both tourism and trucking across the north-central portion of the U.S. With the success of the Lincoln Highway under his belt, Carl Fisher decided to build on his efforts. His next project was the development of a north-south route from Michigan to Miami. Construction on the road began in 1914, and the route — known as the “Dixie Highway” — was completed in short order. Following the Dixie Highway’s completion in 1929, Fisher himself led the first caravan from Florida to Indiana. The Dixie Highway’s route was not as direct as that of the Lincoln Highway, and it ultimately stretched 5,786 miles, including both an eastern and western route. Today, U.S. Route 1 and Interstates 65 and 75 generally approximate the original corridor of the Dixie Highway. As Fisher’s highways developed and became even more vital to the nation’s economy, Fisher himself saw potential for development of Miami as a tourist destination. He funded the Collins Bridge connecting Miami and Miami Beach and was a leading promoter of the Florida land boom of the 1920s. He also saw an equal possibility for a tourism destination at the eastern end of Long Island, New York. Unfortunately, this idea came about in 1929 and was brought to an abrupt halt by the Great Depression. The stock market crash also stopped Fisher in his tracks and led to the loss of his formidable wealth. A Lasting Legacy No longer a rich man, Fisher settled in Miami Beach and performed odd jobs for acquaintances to get by. In 1971, he was inducted into the Automobile Hall of Fame in 1971 — and today, Fisher Island, located south of Miami Beach, is one of the most exclusive residential areas in the country. Tragically, Fisher was destined to follow his father’s footsteps into alcoholism, and he died of a died of a stomach aneurism in 1939. Today, Carl G. Fisher is best remembered as developer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Far more important, however, is his contribution to the U.S. transportation system and his foresight in developing the precursors to the U.S. interstate system. Indirectly, Fisher’s vision led to a boon for the commercial trucking business. As the freight industry expanded and spread from coast to coast, trucks laden with cargo traveled across the country — often along the routes paved by Fisher’s early highways.

2-hit wonder: Leroy Van Dyke’s career helped define country music

By Kris Rutherford - January 21, 2025

When discussing the names of legendary country performers of the mid-20th century, chances are the name Leroy Van Dyke doesn’t immediately come to mind. Van Dyke didn’t have a lot of hits, but two of his songs that DID make the charts have become synonymous with country music. Those hits spurred a career that is now in its eighth decade. Leroy Van Dyke was born in Missouri, the son of farming parents. In fact, his entire extended family was involved in the agriculture industry. During his youth, the music business never entered Van Dyke’s mind as a potential career. He attended the University of Missouri, majoring in agriculture and agriculture journalism, later working for the Chicago Tribune. But during his college days, Van Dyke picked up the guitar for the first time and taught himself to play. He quickly discovered his tenor voice could really belt out a tune, and he started writing songs. One of those, based on his family’s life in agriculture, became a hit upon its release as Van Dyke’s first ever recording. In fact, it became so popular that during his tenure in the military, serving as a soldier in Korea, he was invited to open Marilyn Monroe’s USO show. “The Auctioneer” “The Auctioneer,” released on country radio as a single in 1956, tells the story of a boy from Arkansas whose life goal is to become a cattle auctioneer. Something about the fast-talking auctioneers appealed to the youngster, and he escaped to the cattle yards whenever he could to listen and mimic the auctioneers’ calls. Much to his mother’s chagrin, the boy dropped out of school to pursue his dream, practicing auction cries both day and night. When the boy’s father hears the boy practicing, he’s less than impressed. “Son,” he said, “we just can’t stand to have an ordinary man selling things at auction using our good name.” So, he sends the boy off to auction school, where he excels. Ultimately, he reaches the top of his profession “and the people would come from miles around just to hear him make that rhythmic sound that filled their hearts with such a happy cheer.” Soon, the boy’s name spreads nationwide, and he’s known as the best auctioneer in the land. “The Auctioneer” isn’t autobiographical, although Van Dyke did spend some time in the profession. Rather, he dedicated the song to a cousin who was a well-known auctioneer in the Missouri area. Van Dyke does display some of his own “calling” abilities throughout the song as it is interspersed with fictional auction cries. The lyrics are a bit hard to follow, but one interlude, in effect, is as follows. I challenge you to say this three times fast (or if you’re up to Van Dyke’s standards, try memorizing and singing it untold thousands of times). Twenty-five dollar bid’ja now, thirty dollar, thirty wudja make it thirty bidda onna thirty dollar thirty dollar wouldja gimme, wouldja give me thirty dollar bill? I gotta thirty dolla bidja, now, five, wouldja beedle onna thirty-five biddle on a thirty-five, thirty-five? Who’s gonna bitta the thirty-five dollar bill? “The Auctioneer” rose to No. 9 on the U.S. Country charts and remained Van Dyke’s only recording for nearly five years. After his military service ended, Van Dyke returned to agriculture journalism and worked for newspapers in the Midwest. But he didn’t forget his fledgling music career. He appeared on the television show “Ozark Jubilee” on a regular basis and performed on Chicago’s WGN radio. In 1961, Van Dyke headed for Nashville, where he signed with Mercury Records. “Walk on By” One of Van Dyke’s first releases with Mercury Records was the title song of his first-ever album, “Walk on By.” The song, with lyrics lending itself to one of country music’s early “cheating” songs, shot to No. 1 on the charts and stayed there for an astounding 19 weeks. After that, it remained at various levels on the charts for nearly an entire year. “Walk on By” surpassed “The Auctioneer” as Leroy Van Dyke’s signature song, selling 1.5 million copies and even hitting No. 5 on the pop charts. The song had lasting appeal and was played on country radio for decades to come. In fact, in 1994, Billboard Magazine ranked “Walk on By” as the biggest song in country music history based on chart performance and sales. Think about it. A relative unknown outside of country music beat out the multitude of recordings from the likes of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and Ray Price for the most popular country song of all time. The song also garnered a Grammy for Van Dyke and led to his invitation to perform on the Grand Ole Opry a year later. Eight decades in the business The rest of Leroy Van Dyke’s performing career has been long — but largely forgettable Other than a follow up hit to “Walk on By,” Van Dyke never again appeared in the Top 10, languishing in the depths of the charts with most of his releases. Many of his singles were covers of those of other artists. However, he did have a final minor hit in 1977 with “Texas Tea.” Despite his limited success, Van Dyke made a career of the few hits he recorded. He never again opened for the likes of Marilyn Monroe. However, he appeared at countless fairs, festivals, auctions, rodeos and conventions. He also became a minor draw in Branson, Missouri, where country music fans flock to hear artists whose songs no longer appear on the charts. Today, at the age of 95, he still performs on occasion. There’s no word if he ever flexes his vocal cords to call an auction. Nearly 70 years after its release, “The Auctioneer” still receives occasional airplay. While some may consider it a novelty song, it has outlasted many other hits of its age. Whether “The Auctioneer” or “Walk on By” holds sway as Van Dyke’s signature song is up to the listener. “Walk on By” has been covered by numerous other artists over the decades, but with “The Auctioneer,” Van Dyke virtually remains in a class of his own. Until next time, auctioneering isn’t as popular as it once was in the U.S., so if you aspire to cry out, “I just sold that pig for a 50-dollar bill!” I suggest you don’t quit your day job. To read more of Kris Rutherford’s Rhythm of the Road content, click here.

Trucking History: Alexander Winton’s car-hauler preceded Charles Fruehauf’s trailer by nearly 2 decades

By Kris Rutherford - January 13, 2025

Charles Fruehauf is widely credited as the father of the semi-trailer as it is used today in American trucking — and rightly so. After all, the Fruehauf name is still emblazoned on trailers manufactured over a century later. The company was also the first to sell trailers as a specialty item and remained virtually uncontested for years. However, nearly two decades before Fruehauf invented a device to haul a friend’s boat to the lake, there was another pioneer working to develop a solution for transporting cargo (namely automobiles) — Alexander Winton. Born in 1860 in Grangemouth, Scotland, to a marine engineer, Winton initially followed in his father’s footsteps. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1879, Winton spent his first five years in his new country working in the iron and marine engineering business. Several years later, in 1891, he entered the bicycle business and six years after that he opened the Winton Motor Carriage Co., where he began to produce automobiles. In fact, to prove his vehicle’s worth, he took one of the first long-range car trips that same year, driving from Cleveland to New York, a jaunt that took nine days. A few months later, Winton sold one of his automobiles to a Pennsylvanian for the price of $1,000. The transaction was among the first commercial sales of a car in U.S. history. Winton’s early ventures were not completely successful, however. Early on, he sold a car to James Ward Packard, who was disappointed with the vehicle’s quality. Winton challenged Packard to build a better car — and he did, founding the Packard Motor Car Co. in 1899. Winton also was an avid racer of automobiles, and in one of his races he lost to Henry Ford — a man he had refused to hire. Of course, as history shows, Ford went on to develop the most successful automobile of its time, the Model T. Meanwhile, Winton continued to develop his automobile business. When Winton sold a car, he wanted it to reach its owner in pristine condition, with absolutely no mileage. That precluded him from driving cars to their destinations; not only would doing so place wear and tear on the vehicle, but it would also add the cost of Winton having to secure a railroad ticket home. So, in 1898, he developed a contraption to allow cars to be hauled to their destinations. Some refer to it as the first semi-trailer. Winton’s “automobile hauler” was a cart pulled by a modified short-wheeled automobile. The trailer’s platform rested on top of a rear engine with the end of trailer supported by two wheels. According to a description provided by Great Western Transportation: “The platform could only hold one automobile. Before the cart was mounted onto the pulling car, the automobile to be delivered was wheeled onto the ramp of the cart and fastened to the platform. The edge of the platform resting on the ground was then elevated and attached to the top of the trunk of the pulling vehicle. Today, a flatbed trailer known as an RGN, removable gooseneck, uses the same principle of being driven onto and then hitched to the tractor.” While Winton had indeed invented an early version of the semi-trailer, he only manufactured a few of the contraptions, preferring to remain in the automobile business. Winton left the pursuit of trailer design to others, including Charles Fruehauf, who produced his first trailer in 1914. Other inventors who pioneered trailers were John C. Edebrock in 1918 and George Cassens in the 1920s. By 1903, Winton had completely abandoned commercial trailer manufacturing, instead operating a motor carriage plant in Cleveland, Ohio. The facility covered 13 acres and employed 1,200 workers. In 1912, he founded the Winton Gas Engine and Manufacturing Co. which built engines for a variety of uses — including a return to Winton’s first job when he invented a marine engine design. The company then shifted its emphasis to diesel engines, producing them for both marine and locomotive applications. In 1930, Winton sold his company to General Motors. As noted earlier, Winton once lost a race to Henry Ford, a future competitor in the automobile business. Winton took advantage of the popularity of auto racing to promote his company and encourage advancing technology. His race cars, all dubbed the “Bullet” became well known worldwide. In fact, Bullet No. 1 was the first car to win a sanctioned race on Daytona Beach, adjacent to the speedway that hosts NASCAR’s Daytona 500 today. Barney Oldfield became one of Winton’s best-known drivers, competing with the Bullet in various races across the U.S. in the early 20th century. In one 1904 testing session, Oldfield drove Bullet No. 2 at 80 mph at Daytona Beach — a near-record speed at the time. During his lifetime, Winton patented nearly 100 inventions; however, he was not recognized for his efforts to the extent Charles Fruehauf has been recognized for commercializing the semi-trailer. Winton died 1932, but it was not until 2005 that he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. Then, in 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. So, consider trailer history as you wish. Do accolades belong to Charles Fruehauf, the man who made the use of a semi-trailer widespread and whose name remains on the road today? Or should Alexander Winton receive his due as the first inventor of a trailer for use in automobile delivery?

Avoid the big ‘oops’: A proactive safety culture can protect your company in case of a major accident

By Kris Rutherford - January 13, 2025

If you operate a commercial trucking company, you’ve been there — getting that call from a driver or law enforcement agency alerting you to a big “oops!” No matter how seasoned your driving force is, there comes a time when an accident occurs. This is why safety is the No. 1 concern in the trucking industry. Accidents are a major expense — and not just in terms of insurance premiums. Accidents cost property damage, bodily injury and even lives. A proactive approach to safety and accident mitigation is the best way to stay ahead in what is much more than a game. This requires carriers to consider their comprehensive accident response — and it’s what insurers look for when they consider your premiums and make decisions about underwriting your company. Primary concerns for insurers According to Sarah Goodwin of the Marsh McLennan Agency, when considering a motor carrier and its claims, insurers are concerned about three primary factors — claims uncertainty, auto claim settlements, and market appetite and capacity. “Claims uncertainty is simply that claims continue to grow more complex in nature and cost more to resolve,” she said. “In other words, it’s difficult to predict the outcome and the cost of claims.” This factor alone makes insurance underwriting a complicated process. Add to that auto claim settlements that are notoriously high due to “creative plaintiff attorneys” and a market in which insurance companies are more selective and limiting in how much exposure they want to insure, and you have a situation that creates a volatility in the insurer-carrier relationship. The good news? This volatility can be reduced when a carrier employs an accident response system that emphasizes documentation. “You should never get a call from your insurance company saying, ‘Hey, this third party called in and said there was an incident,’” Goodwin said. “You should be reporting any and all incidents to your agent or broker, and your drivers should do the same.” Note that she said ALL incidents — not just the big ones. After all, being proactive means taking hold of the situation before it takes hold of you. Accidents don’t happen on a schedule. Circumstances always vary, and each driver will react to a given situation differently. A driver’s ability to obtain the type of documentation both you and your insurance company need will also vary. The K.I.S.S. principle While training is important, all the training in the world isn’t going to prepare a driver for an unknown event bringing an unknown set of circumstances. This is where the K.I.S.S. (“keep it simple, silly”) principle can be your greatest ally in determining what information is most important in a given situation, according to the experts at the Marsh McLennan Agency. For carriers, a primary part of the accident response process is to provide drivers with the tools they need BEFORE an accident occurs. Each truck in your fleet should be equipped with an accident response kit. The most important part of this kit is a checklist of what information and paperwork is needed to accurately document and report the accident. Keep in mind that the details a driver might remember clearly immediately after the accident will begin to fade and shift as days pass. A carrier needs to ensure their personnel are skilled in analyzing both types of reports. Set up an accident hotline Post-accident response from a carrier standpoint should emphasize 24/7 coverage of an accident hotline. Someone should always be available to take a call from a driver who needs to report an incident. It’s also important that the person answering the hotline is trained to handle drivers when they’re caught in stressful situations. A driver’s frame of mind following a property damage accident is going to be far different from one involving a bodily injury — or even worse, a fatality. Some counseling instincts are necessary if the person answering the driver’s call is going to handle diverse circumstances. Accident response kit An accident response kit should be designed to streamline the documentation process for the driver and to help them accurately record what happened. Typically, this is presented as an accident response form, often a two-sided document. On the front of the form you should provide a clear list of the do’s and don’ts all drivers need to follow in the event of an accident. Before you start on that list, keep this in mind: The list should always start with reassurance. Make sure the first thing your driver realizes is that you are concerned about them and that you care for their physical and emotional well-being. Following those words of encouragement, provide a set of tips. Despite training, don’t expect your drivers to have these tips memorized. Again, the stress of the circumstances will tax both nerves and memories. Tips for drivers in the event of an accident include: Get a photo of the accident scene from the driver’s seat, especially if no vehicle has been moved. Check on the well-being of other people involved in the accident. DO NOT render medical aid unless you are certified to do so. Call 911 and provide the exact location of an accident and information regarding property damage or injuries. DO NOT take responsibility for the accident. In fact, avoid apologizing and even talking to others involved about what happened. Limit information to comments such as “EMS is on its way.” Call accident response support, and expect someone to answer the phone with a checklist of questions you may have to answer. Secure the scene. With the tools at your disposal, put on your hi-resolution vest, place flares or triangles, and await first responders outside your vehicle (if it’s if safe to do so). DO NOT speak to anyone about the accident other than your company representative and law enforcement officials. Once law enforcement clears the scene, obtain paperwork. Do not leave the scene until you are advised to do so by the authorities. Before leaving the scene, send all documentation to the accident response staff member with whom you have been communicating. Await further instructions. On-scene photos An important part of the documentation process is photographs. Every accident response kit should include a disposable camera a driver can use to take photographs of all angles of the scene, just in case the driver’s smartphone is lost or damaged in the accident. Instruct drivers to take photos from each corner of the accident site, as well as both sides, a front and a rear view, at minimum. This is a total of eight photographs per accident. Do not ignore obtaining photos at all angles just because only one side of your vehicle was involved. Both your insurance company and your staff will need copies of everything the driver prepares at the scene — and all drivers should be ready for follow-up discussions soon after the accident occurs. If your trucks are equipped with forward-facing cameras (if they’re not, it’s time to seriously consider making the investment), any footage preceding and during the incident can be of great value to law enforcement and your insurer. This footage can often clear a driver who was not at fault. In any event, don’t wait too long to complete documentation about any accident. Being proactive is the key to accident mitigation and showing due diligence is something your carrier will look toward when considering how to respond to the individual accident as well as set premiums for your carrier in the future.

Need drivers? Make the most of new technology to navigate the driver recruitment funnel

By Kris Rutherford - January 6, 2025

For years, motor carriers have searched for a secret formula to attracting and keeping the best drivers. Conversion Interaction Agency reports that driver recruitment advertising increased by 51% from April to September of 2024. That’s the highest increase since tracking began in 2020. In fact, no job in the United States is advertised more often than that of “truck driver.” Motor carriers should understand that they’re competing against other companies at the regional and local level for new drivers — and some long-time over-the-road (OTR) drivers are even turning to gig positions during their job searches. In short, the experts say, the old way of recruiting drivers is no longer effective. To recruit in an increasingly competitive market, hiring managers and recruiters must make the most of new technologies. The use of artificial intelligence is no longer a novel idea, either for business or in everyday life; it has become a necessity. When recruiters consider factors involved in encouraging drivers to enter their recruitment pipeline — or “funnel” — several factors should be considered. Online ratings matter First, when it comes to online reviews of carriers on a 1-5 scale), most employee reviews fall to the extreme — they either “love” you (4-5) or “hate” you (1-2). You may be surprised to find that the same factors are noted as top concerns at both ends of the scale — pay, equipment and management. While some carriers tend to ignore bad online ratings, writing them off to disgruntled employees or “troublemakers,” the truth is that these ratings are vital to a carrier’s ability to attract quality drivers and other employees. Consider this: According to recent surveys, more than 40% of existing drivers say they’re currently searching for a new job — and another 20% say they plan to look for a new job once the economy improves. When researching motor carriers, job seekers tend to believe online ratings (whether they’re accurate or not) over a company’s “party line.” While setting an online “rating goal” isn’t necessarily a good strategy, carriers that consistently fall below 3 on a 1-5 scale should take notice. Low ratings mean reviews don’t reflect the carrier in a positive light. The ever-increasing use of AI in the recruitment process is an excellent strategy to begin improving the recruiting process. But how? Honesty truly is the best policy Today’s drivers are interested in two things when searching for new employers — pay and operations planning. In addition, they want an honest and transparent recruitment process. Rule of thumb: Never promise anything you can’t deliver. All too often, carriers place emphasis on the recruiting process over retaining the good drivers they already have — and making empty promises is about the fastest way to lose drivers (and don’t forget, those “lost” drivers could well leave an online review of your company). When seeking to attract new drivers, having a reputation as an open, honest and transparent employer is vital. Keep in mind that drivers are no longer limiting their job searches to just one or two carriers. With online job postings so plentiful and easy to find, drivers can apply to multiple carriers at once with just a click of a button. Don’t be afraid of AI Carriers that use AI in recruiting see 10% to 30% more completed applications than those using the traditional method — and they see them quickly. The use of AI enables a recruiter to immediately contact a potential applicant and encourage them to complete the application process. With an “early bird gets the worm” mentality in recruiting, it’s easy to see how using AI tools can outshine the traditional recruitment process. The “machine learning” (data-driven improvement) of AI allows carriers to pinpoint their search for drivers geographically, provides recommended hiring budgets, offers analytics to improve online recruitment campaigns, and provides insight into improving job descriptions as recruitment tools. The advantages provided by AI lead to improvements in the recruiting process, resulting in more qualified applications and reduced lead-to-hire time. In addition, IA can provide insights for smarter recruiting. This all adds up to financial savings for company recruiting and hiring departments. Carriers using the AI process report that the cost of filling a driver position can be reduced by as much as two-thirds of the cost of traditional recruiting. Brad Vaughan, vice president of recruiting at Maverick Transportation, notes that AI helps channel applicants through the recruitment process. “You have to utilize top of the funnel advertising to develop your brand and develop your reputation,” he said. That’s just the beginning. “Then you’ve got to maintain your reputation by finding where you’re being rated on these various sites, from Google and Glassdoor to Facebook,” he said. “You have to respond (to these ratings) and acknowledge that you’re actively watching and listening.” Vaughan also notes that the use of social media in recruiting is increasingly important, sharing that, depending on the time of year, as much as 30% of Maverick’s hires are made through social media recruiting. The importance of creating a brand As Vaughan suggests, among the most promising aspects of AI is the ability to promote your brand in a market filled with carriers, most of which are potential employers. As noted earlier, for most job seekers, the top source of information about a potential employer is a carrier’s online reviews. Higher reviews not only benefit the carrier in terms of attracting more and better applicants, but they also save money. Conversion Interaction Agency statistics indicate that carriers receiving reviews of 3 or greater on the 1-5 scale save 48% on the cost of recruiting per application. In addition, the agency says, 57% of applicants want to be familiar with a carrier’s brand before applying to them. To succeed in today’s fast-paced, technology-heavy climate, carriers must diversify their recruiting marketing strategies. The recruiting funnel The recruiting funnel begins with a company pouring general brand marketing into the top and ends with good applicants being converted into employees at the bottom. At the top of the funnel is information one will find on search engines such as YouTube and Facebook. Videos are among the most effective methods of increasing your company’s brand recognition and improving recruiting at all levels of the funnel. “Video is just compelling, and you can use it in a lot of different places,” said Priscilla Peters, chief marketing officer for Conversion Interactive Agency. Today, almost anyone with a smartphone can record and create video clips to use in marketing and recruiting. “Video is vital, and I would use it across a lot of different channels — in your digital advertising, on your social advertising, on your website, in an email campaign,” Peters said. “You can make it translate a lot of different ways.” The recruitment funnel also helps carriers strategize and move quality leads from top to bottom much more quickly than traditional recruiting. Properly utilizing AI and the recruiting funnel may decrease the overall number of applications received — but recruiters will find that those emerging at the narrow end of the funnel are quality applicants who have the best chances of becoming good, long-term employees. The use of the recruitment funnel also allows a carrier to grow its online community, develop the type of community wanted, and encourages referrals through various channels. Of course, a carrier should never forget that its existing drivers are often the best source of information for prospective employees. If your drivers know and trust your company, they will often respond to negative comments and set the record straight. For most applicants, this carries much more weight than a similar response issued by the company’s recruiting department. For many carriers, the idea of implementing AI in the recruiting department may seem a bit overwhelming. The technology is new, and it is growing quickly. Fear that AI will replace existing systems leaves some within a company unwilling to give it a try. But when used properly, AI will supplement existing recruiting systems, not replace them. There will always be a need for the human element in human resources.

Reba McEntire broils up controversy with ‘Fancy’ as her signature song

By Kris Rutherford - December 17, 2024

I love Reba McEntire. As far as I’m concerned, she bests Patsy Cline as the greatest female country artist of all time. “When Whoever in New England’s Through with You” and “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” are just a couple of my favorites. I even like her television shows. I haven’t read her books, but I have little doubt I’d like them, too. But there’s one Reba song that sometimes rubs me the wrong way — “Fancy.” Now before you offer up those chastising emails, please hear me out. I realize that “Fancy” is Reba’s signature song. It’s the one she sings at the inevitable curtain calls when she plays in concert, and she admits it’s her favorite song she’s ever recorded. “Fancy” is a rags-to-riches story, she’s shared, and she loves the story it represents. That’s where we part ways, if only for a moment. Every time I hear “Fancy,” I have to ask myself: Does this song glorify prostitution? I’m not alone in that thought. The song is noted on most lists of the “most controversial country songs ever recorded,” and for good reason. Of course, “Fancy” also sits high on the list of the most popular country recordings. To be clear, Reba did not write “Fancy,” nor was she the first to record it. Both of those credits go to Bobby Gentry of “Billy Joe McCallister” fame. Gentry released the song in 1970, and it made it to No. 26 on the charts. Gentry has said she looks at “Fancy” as a feminist statement. “‘Fancy’ is my strongest statement for women’s lib, if you really listen to it,” Gentry says. “I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that they stand for — equality, equal pay, day care centers and abortion rights.” If that’s what Gentry claims about “Fancy,” we can only assume it to be true. She did, after all, write the song. But it’s the first time I’ve heard an argument that feminism equates with prostitution. That’s quite a leap of logic. The “Fancy” story If you’re not familiar with the story of “Fancy,” it is truly a rags-to-riches tale, as Reba says. However, I believe the song shouldn’t be confused with the extended music video that accompanied its release. The music video tells us how to interpret “Fancy” — and that’s one of my pet peeves about country music and videos in general. Music is an auditory experience. Let’s leave a little bit to the imagination. Then again, if ever a song and its accompanying video were hard to separate, “Fancy” fits the bill. Fancy, the name of the song’s main character, lives with her mother and baby sister in a “run down shack on the outskirts of New Orleans.” This brief description of poverty sets the stage for the song’s storyline: Fancy’s mother has a plan to help her daughter escape a life without a foreseeable positive future. The song’s lyrics refer to the family as “poor white trash.” I don’t like the phrase, but it may be fitting (at least that’s what the video leads us to believe). In brief, the plan is for Fancy to escape poverty by embarking on a life as a prostitute. We can’t be sure the mother actually sells Fancy into prostitution — but if we follow the video’s images, there’s a strong reason to believe it to be the case. Fancy is picked up by what appears to be a wealthy man in an expensive black car. That darkness implies that some sort of “sale” — or at least an “arrangement” — was involved, and that the man in the car is up to no good. Again, such a conclusion requires that we see the video and lyrics as one. As noted, I don’t like to look at music that way. As the song tells us, especially in the extended version that doesn’t often receive radio play, Fancy DOES become a prostitute (although the word is never mentioned). It’s noted that a benevolent man took her off the streets, a place prostitutes often live. And Fancy “charmed” a “king, a congressman, and an occasional aristocrat.” I don’t think we need to interpret much to know the type of “charming” to which the lyrics refer. In the end, Fancy’s escape from poverty somehow leads her to a luxurious lifestyle (not to mention the acquisition of a sizeable sum of money). If we go back to the video, Fancy managed to parlay her stint as a prostitute into stardom as both a singer and actress. The “Fancy” message Here’s my beef. I worked for an anti-sex trafficking organization for a few years, and I’m familiar with TAT, or Truckers Against Trafficking. I learned a few things along the way. For one thing, few prostitutes willingly enter the trade. it’s not something girls aspire to do when they grow up. Most states have laws noting that a minor cannot be charged as a prostitute. Why? Because there is always an adult — let’s call a spade a spade and just say it, a pimp —behind teen prostitution. And in most cases, even when reaching the age of majority, a sex-trafficked woman is often controlled by the same pimp. The lyrics to “Fancy” reinforce this, stating, “for me there was no way out.” Of course, listeners learn that, for Fancy at least, there WAS a way out, and it led to an enchanted lifestyle. This is where we get down to the question at hand: Does “Fancy” glorify prostitution? Even more sinister, if it does, does it also glorify sex-trafficking? Now, I’m not going to suggest that Reba’s signature song has inspired some wayward girls to enter prostitution as a profession. If nothing else, it may have inspired them to escape the sex trade. But the question remains. Should a song that, in conjunction with its video, alludes to prostitution as a means of escape from poverty be held in such high regard? Despite my misgivings, my answer is “yes.” I believe “Fancy” takes a headlong look into the issues of life in the United States, particularly in the South. That, after all, is what country music is all about. Until next time, support TAT. You can make a difference.

August Fruehauf: How an apprentice blacksmith grew his business into a top-of-the-line trailer manufacturer

By Kris Rutherford - December 16, 2024

In German, the word “Fruehauf” means “early riser.” For August Charles Fruehauf, no name could have been more appropriate. Born in 1868 in Fraser, Michigan, Fruehauf was a blacksmith by trade, first learning the ins and outs of the job at the age of 14 as a blacksmith’s apprentice. However, after setting out on his own and beginning his career as a one-man operation, Fruehauf suffered setbacks when two fires destroyed his blacksmith shops in Fraser. Instead of giving up, Fruehauf and his wife pulled up stakes and relocated to Detroit to start anew. Once established in the Motor City, he quickly added staff and facilities, eventually operating a blacksmithing business that covered several acres in eastern Detroit. In the meantime, he added carriage (or wagon) building to his list of services. But the oncoming horseless carriage turned out to be the catalyst for a new industry, and Fruehauf rose to the occasion. In 1914, Fruehauf was approached by a local lumber merchant approached and asked to build a contraption that could be affixed to the merchant’s Model T and used to transport a boat to Upper Michigan. Fruehauf, not a man to shy away from many challenges, thought this a feasible task, so he started work on a design. He called his invention a “trailer,” named after the 1890 application of a “vehicle pulled by another” (typically a small carriage drawn by a bicycle). The trailer was connected to the Model T by a pole that acted as both a tongue and brake. Fruehauf’s invention was unique in that it had no front axle; because of the lack of axle, he coined the term “semi-trailer.” In case you’ve ever wondered about the origin of the “semi” often used in referring to big rigs today, now you know! In any event, the trailer successfully hauled the lumber merchant’s boat to the lake. The merchant was so impressed with the new gadget that he ordered several more for his large lumberyard. Using Model Ts to pull trailers when delivering lumber, he predicted, would make for a more efficient process and eliminate the need for housing and upkeep of horses and mules. For these, Fruehauf substituted a platform for the rigging that had connected the boat to the trailer, and he designed a stronger undercarriage. It was a wild success. Before long, demand for Fruehauf’s trailer increased — and not just among lumber merchants. Each new customer seemed to have a different application for the tow-along, and Fruehauf modified his initial creation to meet various customers’ needs. Soon, the Fruehauf Trailer Co. was manufacturing closed vans, tank-equipped trailers, refrigerated trailers and dump trailers. As virtually the only U.S. company in the business of manufacturing trailers, Fruehauf almost had a monopoly on the product. He promoted his business by advertising: “A horse can pull more than it can carry — so can a truck.” Demand for various designs of trailers did not come without problems. But by employing a top engineering staff, Fruehauf was able to overcome most of those obstacles, adding patents with each development. In just its first quarter-century in business, the Fruehauf Trailer Co. registered over 1,000 patents, many of them for U.S. military equipment. Among those inventions were the automatic hitch, the tow lift and the torsion bar suspension. By 1918, the company was profiting $150,000 a year, and orders far outstripped the capacity to fill them. As Roy Fruehauf, August’s son, said, “The blacksmith shop was literally bulging at its bay windows with workmen and trailers.” The answer to this problem was to buy new land, something made possible when the company was incorporated in 1918. August Fruehauf was named president of the company and his wife vice-president. Roy, along with his brothers Harvey and Otto, also joined the company in administrative roles. By 1925, sales reached $1.25 million. Just as his company was reaching its peak, August Fruehauf passed away in 1930. Fruehauf Trailer Co., however, continued to gain momentum. As Roy Fruehauf said in a speech celebrating the 40th anniversary of Fruehauf’s first trailer, “Each year we grew a bit — each year more and more Fruehauf trailers began to take their places on the American road — and each year more and more of the things we Americans eat, wear, and use were carried in trailers bearing the name my father had made such a vital part of American business life.” In 1937, a total of 4 million trucks and trailers were on the nation’s highways — and almost all of those trucks pulled Fruehauf trailers. Beginning with World War I, the Fruehauf Trailer Co. became a primary supplier to the U.S. military. It seems that Fruehauf was the only company with the knowledge, skill and efficiency to meet quickly increasing war effort needs. Fruehauf answered the call for an “Arsenal of Democracy” with numerous innovations to its standard trailer. The company manufactured new applications, including mobile hospitals, post office trailers, communications centers and laundry centers. During World War II and the Korean War — Fruehauf added searchlights, generators, anti-aircraft vehicles, tank carriers, a missile-launching platform and trailers capable of bearing 60 tons of equipment. Fruehauf even helped design amphibious landing vehicles like the LARC-60, which was used to transport vehicles from ship to shore. In the last half-century, Fruehauf has been joined by countless other trailer manufacturers. In fact, the company itself even sold to Wabash National in 1997. But the Fruehauf name lives on, with the modern Fruehauf Trailer Corp. based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Just take a look. You’ll see the Fruehauf name every day on trailer mudflaps on virtually every mile of interstate in the U.S.

Remembering a country great: Kris Kristofferson’s legendary resume

By Kris Rutherford - November 21, 2024

“If it sounds country, that’s what it is. It’s a country song.” Truer words than Kris Kristofferson’s introduction to his recording of “Me and Bobby McGee” may never have been spoken. But to truly SOUND country, a song must take full advantage of the songwriter’s experiences. After all experiences are what country music is all about. Kristofferson, who died Sept. 28, 2024, at age 88, had as many experiences as anyone in the business. Kris Kristofferson’s resume is impressive — and not just for his musical experience. In addition to numerous accomplishments in music and show business, Kristofferson could boast of being the following: An English major with award-winning essays; A college athlete; A Rhodes Scholar; An attendee of Oxford University; A U.S. Army Ranger, captain, and helicopter pilot; and A part-time dredger. Even with all that, when he got out of the Army and looked toward a career as a songwriter, the best job he could find was sweeping floors in a Nashville studio. He made ends meet by flying helicopters off oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico while trying to get some of his songs into the hands of a performing star. His early efforts at songwriting were memorable, but none met with commercial success. Artists like Billy Walker, Faron Young and Roger Miller all recorded songs penned by Kristofferson. But even Miller, who recorded “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” didn’t exactly have a hit with the song. Fortunately, a few years later, Kristofferson hooked Johnny Cash up the same song. Cash’s first performance of “Sunday Morning” on live television became a legendary moment in country music history. Ironically, perhaps Kris Kristofferson’s most popular and most-often-covered song, “Me and Bobby McGee,” became a mega-hit … but Janis Joplin, the rocker who brought it to No. 1 status, was far from a country musician. Others had great success with the song as well, including Roger Miller, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kenny Rogers, and even the Statler Brothers. Moreover, the song officially marked Kristofferson’s acceptance as a songwriter, and more of his music began to be recorded by country’s biggest stars. Stepping behind the microphone himself, Kristofferson also gained success as a performer with the hit song “The Silver-Tongued Devil and I” and “Loving Her was Easier than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again.” In 1971, he had an impressive showing at the Grammy Awards as many of his songs took home top honors while others were nominated in various categories. Hits like “Help Me Make it through the Night” and “For the Good Times” followed. Again, both songs were covered by numerous artists, reaching hit status for several of them. By the mid ’70s, as if being a Grammy award-winning songwriter wasn’t enough of a feather in the Kristofferson’s hat, he began to make inroads in Hollywood. In the coming years, he starred in numerous movies alongside the likes of Gene Hackman and Burt Reynolds. Perhaps his most notable role was opposite Barbara Streisand in “A Star Is Born.” In 1978, Kristofferson starred in “Convoy,” a film-based take on C.W. McCall’s hit song of a few years earlier. He played the lead role in the movie — Martin “Rubber Duck” Penwold. While the film was not as successful as “White Line Fever” or “Smokey and the Bandit,” two other trucking-based movies of the day, it did pull in $45 million at the box office. Kristofferson’s acting career didn’t slow down in the ’80s, and he starred in several more films alongside co-stars like Steven Segal, Johnny Cash and Jane Fonda. While it seemed Kristofferson succeeded in every form of entertainment at which he tried his hand, perhaps his most notable accomplishment came in 1985 when he teamed up with his long-time friends and mentors Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash to form the country group The Highwaymen. The four superstars won song of the year with “Highwayman,” and they recorded several others over the ensuing years. But it was the live performances that brought the group some of its greatest fame. Arguably, never in the history of country music had a more star-studded lineup of musicians been on stage at the same time than in a performance of “The Highwaymen.” Kristofferson, Nelson, Jennings and Cash made three-hour performances out of singing their own songs and each other’s. Many of those, including “Help Me Make it through the Night,” “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” “Luckenbach, Texas,” and “There Ain’t No Good in an Evil Hearted Woman” were megahits long before the foursome teamed up. As the ’90s passed, Kristofferson’s commercial success slowly began to wane. He remained popular on-stage as one of The Highwaymen, but his songwriting slowed. He continued to take on acting parts but none of the films met with much success. But while he may have lost a step as an entertainer, it was time for Kristofferson to reap the rewards of a career well-spent. Already inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, he received his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004. He followed this with other awards, including the Johnny Cash Visionary Award, the Johnny Mercer Award and even more Grammy nominations. He continued to produce music throughout the period, and although it met with critical success, it did not perform well commercially. Finally, in January 2021, Kristofferson announced his retirement. Long after Kristofferson’s death, his legacy will live on. His achievements before he ever even became involved in entertainment are legendary — and those beginning in the late ’60s, when he first entered the music business, are stellar. There has never been an entertainer like Kris Kristofferson, and country music will be hard-pressed to ever find another of his caliber. But don’t worry, music fans: Rest assured that artists will be covering Kristofferson’s music for decades to come … and no doubt, some of those old songs will reach the top of the charts once again. Until next time, keep that Country Gold playing on the satellite radio. The greats are dying off too fast to forget them. Photo courtesy of Kris Kristofferson’s official Facebook page

150 years and counting: George Westinghouse’s braking system still brings traffic to a stop

By Kris Rutherford - November 19, 2024

If you ask truckers about the most important things in their lives, some might say that right after family, God and country, their truck’s brakes are close to their hearts. After all, both their livelihood and their lives rely on those brakes functioning properly. While it’s true that everything in motion will eventually come to a stop, it’s important to be able to control when and where those stops take place. Since 1925, when air brakes became standard on trucks, credit for helping trucks stop is given to George Westinghouse. But his invention came long before trucks — or even horseless carriages — traveled the roadways. If you want to get scientific about the matter, no one “invented” brakes. Braking is a matter of physics, most notably friction and gravity. Since the first rock rolled down a hill, Mother Nature had a way to bring it to a stop. It was up to humans to harness that friction and make it work to their advantage. And that’s just what George Westinghouse did way back in 1868. Yes, I’m talking about the George Westinghouse of Westinghouse Electric. Westinghouse was born in 1846 in Central Bridge, a small community in New York state. His father, a farmer and machinist, planted an interest in technology in young Westinghouse, but other matters had to be tended to first. At the age of 15, just after the outbreak of the Civil War, Westinghouse enlisted in the New York National Guard, largely against his parents’ wishes. Later he served in the New York Cavalry, and eventually in the Navy. At war’s end, the still-young Westinghouse enrolled in college … but he quickly found the strict rules weren’t right for him. You might say the 19th-century version of STEM education didn’t sit well with Westinghouse’s style of learning. He was an inventor — and invent he did. Before Westinghouse reached the age of 20, he secured his first patent on a rotary steam engine. He followed this invention by developing a method of rerailing railroad cars after they had derailed. From that point, he largely became noted for his involvement in transportation, most notably the railroad. Before the advent of gas-powered vehicles, there were steam-powered locomotives. In the mid-1800s, stopping a train was dangerous work. Each railroad employed brakemen whose job it was to run along the railroad cars and manually apply the brakes to each one. Over the years, thousands of brakemen were killed on the job, and the railroad could not be as efficient as its potential because brakemen could operate brakes on less than a dozen cars at a time. Westinghouse decided there had to be a better way. His solution was the air brake — and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company was born. Westinghouse’s air brake system was not complicated in design. A compressor located in the locomotive connected to a reservoir and valve fitted on each car. Rather than brakemen swinging between the cars, a steam pipe ran the length of the train. This pipe, which flexed between cars, controlled the brakes and refilled the reservoirs. Engineers could control all the brakes from the locomotives with one maneuver. Over the next few years, Westinghouse improved his air braking system. In the meantime, he worked on other projects ranging from natural gas to electricity to shock absorbers. Westinghouse’s air brakes soon became standard equipment on trains both in the U.S. and Europe. Its popularity grew in 1895 when the federal government required the Westinghouse brake system on all future trains. Then came the advent of the “horseless carriage,” which also required braking devices. By 1905, more than 2 million automobiles were fitted with air brakes. Further improvements to the system continued well beyond Westinghouse’s death in 1914. In 1922, as trucks gained in popularity following World War I, the air brake system was used for larger trucks hauling heavy loads. By 1925, Westinghouse’s air brakes were generally accepted as standard on all trucks. The alternative to the air brake system has long been hydraulic brakes, like those typically found in modern passenger vehicles. Unlike air brakes, hydraulic brakes are operated by compressing fluid, and the fittings are more likely to leak and result in brake failure. As those following Westinghouse noted: Air is always available to be compressed; but hydraulic fluid must be found and poured into the braking system. Today’s air braking system includes a compressor, governor, reservoir tanks, a dryer and drain valves, along with the foot valve (better known as the brake pedal). Of course, 18-wheelers are fitted with separate braking systems — one for the tractor and another for the trailer. Modern air braking systems are more sophisticated than their predecessors. In the heavy-duty truck industry, air brakes are more complicated than those original systems Westinghouse initially invented for trains — and they are also more fail-safe. Backup systems kick in when primary brakes fail, something that adds an extra level of safety when a driver wants to stop a truck. Both tractors and trailers are fitted with parking brakes as well. When released, the brakes offer the familiar “whoosh” sound that so often announces a large truck is in the area. George Westinghouse perfected the air brake system for use in the industrialized world. Air brakes have survived the growth of technology, and the essential components of Westinghouse’ original design remain more a century and a half later. In the end, a college dropout with a mind for inventing and entrepreneurship, set the stage for a safe, effective method of operating commercial vehicles. It can be said quite literally that Westinghouse continues to bring traffic to a stop.

Garrett Steenblik journeys from health crisis to wellness as an over-the-road trucker

By Kris Rutherford - October 22, 2024

Garrett Steenblik’s story as a truck driver isn’t a typical one — but it is certainly inspirational. Just a few years into his driving career, Steenblik says he realized the sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits he developed on the road had placed him in a life-threatening health crisis. “I was trapped in a cycle of daily nausea, excruciating pain and sleepless nights, burdened with diagnoses of fatty liver disease and ulcers,” he told The Trucker. “On top of that, I battled crippling anxiety, depression and PTSD from a childhood consumed by abuse.” To cope, Steenblik started a regimen. Unfortunately, it was not a regimen that would lead to a positive outcome. He developed a habit of chugging three Mountain Dews a day and binge eating, desperately trying to escape the pain that consumed him. It didn’t take long for these destructive habits to take a toll on his overall health. A journey faced by many Steenblik isn’t the first driver to face health- and diet-related challenges on the job — and he certainly won’t be the last. By its very nature, over-the-road trucking presents unique barriers to balanced nutrition and regular physical activity. “While our society depends on the vital work of the trucking industry, truck drivers have scant support in maintaining their well-being,” he said. “This is a public health crisis.” Steenblik is matter of fact when he discusses the role motor carriers — at least those he observes — play in the lives of employees. “We’re expected to work 10-14 hours a day — over 70 hours a week,” he said, noting that this schedule leaves little to no time for meal planning and exercise. According to Steenblik, many truckers subsist on cheap, readily accessible meal options, such as fast food and gas station snacks — and he should know. He was one of them. Luckily, Steenblik reached a breaking point, one where he recognized he was caught in a personal health crisis. Unfortunately, many drivers never have that realization. “I decided to change while I was hunched over a toilet bowl, feeling defeated. I realized I was a victim of my own choices, and I refused to remain a hostage to my past” he said. “In that moment of desperation, I found a flicker of determination” he continued. “I channeled the same discipline I used to navigate the open roads into a fierce commitment to my own health.” Challenges along the journey Steenblik knew the road ahead would be hard, and he knew he didn’t have all the answers — but that feeling was not foreign to him. After all, he’d faced the unknown when he entered the trucking industry after leaving a sedentary, dead-end tech job and watching his weight grow to 360 pounds. Among the first challenges ahead was the financial cost of making personal health changes. As with many truckers’ health care plans, he says, his insurance plan’s coverage of preventative health care and weight loss treatment was inadequate — and his health had deteriorated to the point that the out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare associated with his wellness journey would be in the tens of thousands of dollars. On top of that, the monetary cost was actually one of the least of his challenges: Changing his lifestyle would take perseverance and strength from within like nothing he’d ever undertaken in his 24 years. “My demanding driving schedule necessitates long hours seated behind the wheel,” he explained. “The lifestyle impedes regular physical activity and encourages reliance on cheap, calorically dense convenience foods.” Steenblik knew he needed a strategy. The first order of business, he says, was to work on his diet and adopt an exercise regimen. “I lost my first 100 pounds simply by running in place for 45 minutes a day over 11 months,” he said. However, as he discovered, “I couldn’t outrun a poor diet.” Despite a rigorous exercise routine, his weight climbed as he continued to binge eat. “My breakthrough came when I learned about total daily energy expenditure and basal metabolic rate,” he said. “I began to understand how many calories my body burned daily and how to eat in a calorie deficit for weight loss.” Steenblik adopted a low-carb, whole-food diet, practiced intermittent fasting — and swapped hamburgers and fries for vegetables and lean protein. “As I improved my diet and exercise, my depression, anxiety and trauma began to lose their grip on my life,” he said. “I realized that mental health starts with physical health, and I found I could reshape my identity and heal.” A partner on the journey During his journey to better health, Steenblik says he received a lot of support from his wife — who also happens to have been Steenblik’s team driving partner for eight years. “My wife, Yvonne, is a powerful source of accountability and support. She’s played an essential role in my health journey through her love and encouragement,” he said, adding that his wife, who is certified in hazmat and tanker operations, is an active team driver. “We drive as a team, balancing the demands of our job with maintaining our health,” he said. However, he says, his wife faces additional challenges to maintaining her health on the road. “It’s not always safe for her to exercise outside alone, especially as a night driver,” he said. “Team driving is intense and requires immense coordination and trust. While one of us drives, the other rests, making it challenging to find time for exercise.” But together, they made the journey. “We both made it a priority to work out during breaks or while waiting to load — doing body-weight exercises regardless of conditions,” he said. It was a slow process — in fact, his journey spanned five years — but Steenblik eventually reached his health goals. And those goals were ones that anyone, regardless of their profession, should be proud to achieve. “I ultimately reached 155 pounds, primarily through keto (diet) and intermittent fasting,” he said. “It took years to lose 200 pounds through diet and exercise.” The massive weight loss left him with an extraordinary amount of sagging skin that could only be removed through surgery. This required time and money, not only for the operation, but also to recuperate. “I used weight-loss medication to manage the weight fluctuations during recovery, going up to 185 pounds and then back down to my normal weight of around 160,” Steenblik said. A continuing journey While his personal mission has been achieved, Steenblik says he continues to face daily challenges in order to maintain his weight and health. He wants to use his journey to inspire other drivers to take charge of their health. “My personal experience of fighting to get my health back while fulfilling my job requirements brought me face to face with the enormous obstacles that truckers face in maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “My story of returning to wellbeing while driving is exceptional, but it shouldn’t be,” he continued. “My mission is to bring attention to the unique obstacles drivers face when it comes to accessing health care and implementing lifestyle changes.” Steenblik hopes his story raises awareness about rampant health issues in the trucking industry. “I offer myself as a resource for fellow truckers looking to improve their overall well-being,” he said. “I connect and offer free health consulting in trucking groups on Facebook, reaching truckers on forums they can easily access.” Steenblik uses his personal story as a call to action for other drivers — and people in general — who are unhealthy. “I encourage readers to evaluate their own health needs and support wellness initiatives within the industry,” he said. “Draw inspiration from one another and join the movement toward better health in trucking.”

Repeating history: Timing of port strike eerily similar to 1938 truckers’ strike

By Kris Rutherford - October 1, 2024

East and Gulf Coast ports shut down at midnight Oct. 1, 2024, as 45,000 union longshoremen walked off their jobs. Freight will quickly back up as many parts of the Southeast work to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, which hit the Big Bend area of Florida on Sept. 26 and wove a path of destruction reaching far beyond the coastline. With the port strike, analysts expect the impact on import and exports to be $5 billion per day. Coincidentally, exactly 86 years ago in New York City, a truckers’ strike affected shipping up and down the East Coast — when the area was hit by a Category 3 hurricane. Here’s how the story goes. By the late 1930s, trucking held a firm grip on commerce throughout the U.S. While railroads and seaports served cities on both coasts, it was trucks that delivered the bulk of the goods throughout the country and into cities, shuttling goods between terminals and delivering to stores and worksites. While railroad workers had worked eight-hour days for many years, truckers weren’t provided the same working conditions. The Motor Carrier Act proposed in 1937 would have allowed truckers to work up to 60 hours a week, with 12 hours a day behind the wheel. Even in large metropolitan areas like New York City, those extremes had not been considered; however, local trucking firms did require drivers to work 47-hour weeks at a pay rate of $56.50 per week. The terms didn’t sit well with truck drivers. When the drivers’ contracts expired on Sept. 1, 1938, employers pushed for truck drivers to take a pay cut. The drivers responded negatively, pushing for a new contract that would lower their work hours to 40 per week — with no pay cut and including one week’s vacation. A large part of the motivation of the drivers’ terms were to spread work to the some 4,000 unemployed drivers in New York City. As Sept. 15 approached, the employers backed away from the 47-hour work week. Instead, they suggested a 44-hour week with no pay reduction. Members of the truckers’ unions rejected the proposal, and 1,000 members went so far as to unofficially vote for a strike. On Sept. 15, Local 807 voted for an unsanctioned, or “outlaw” strike, across New York City. It was their belief that negotiators were not working to achieve the lower hours the union members wanted. As the idea of a truckers’ strike began to gain steam, a hurricane was barreling up the East Coast. In a few days, there would be a need for relief efforts, and truck drivers would be a major contributor to relief to areas all along the Atlantic coast. With an eye on the storm, another 1,000 workers voted to strike and 5,000 more were expected to follow. However, the truckers planned to honor their civic duty and agreed to deliver relief supplies as required. Employers proposed five- and three-day truces to the growing movement toward a drivers’ strike. The drivers involved rejected both. Their position was strengthened when the Sailors Union of the Pacific agreed not to cross picket lines — and picketing of the Holland Tunnel between New York and New Jersey virtually brought interstate trucking to a halt. Eventually, this block on interstate trucking would impact over 2,000 gas stations in New York City. By Sept. 20, over 12,000 striking truckers were in the city, 5,000 of them operating “driving picket lines” to enforce the strike effort. The next day, as acting mayor Newbold Morris ordered the strike to end in 24 hours, Long Island was struck by a Category 3 hurricane. To date, the strike had interrupted deliveries for the 1939 World’s Fair construction and caused shipping lines along the East Coast to stop working the piers, as no freight was being moved. Similar stoppages happened along the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroad lines where freight piled up in warehouses. With relief for those impacted by the hurricane taking priority, the union agreed to a temporary truce, which would last until Sept. 24. Over the ensuing 48 hours, negotiators made no progress toward an agreement between the employers and drivers’ unions. A “real strike” was now a looming possibility. Employers used the truce period to build a backlog of supplies in case a strike occurred, but road damage from the hurricane disrupted these efforts. Then, when no agreement was reached at the end of the truce period, an official strike vote was held on Sept. 25, with 4,071 in favor of the strike and only 365 against. The “real strike” was on. Just one day later, 20,000 Teamsters union drivers in New Jersey voted to join their neighbors’ effort and fight for better working conditions. Dealing another blow to the employers was the Longshoreman’s Union public statement that it would not attempt to disrupt the drivers’ strike. In addition, they announced that when their contract ended in just a few months they too would be asking for a 40-hour workweek. During the official strike, truck drivers agreed to exempt food, medicine and relief goods from the strike embargo so vital supplies could be delivered to hurricane-stricken areas. Regardless, those enforcing the strike effort caught many drivers attempting to circumvent the rules and make ordinary deliveries under the premise of emergency relief efforts, placing “flood signs” on the windshields of their trucks. New York City’s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia spent a majority of the strike period out of the city. Upon his return, he found between 30,000 and 35,000 drivers on strike. He proposed new terms to both the strikers and employers. First, LaGuardia suggested a two-year contract calling for a 44-hour workweek with no pay cut. This compromise would require drivers to work eight hours on weekdays and four hours on Saturdays — and the weekend work would be paid at time and a half. All work over eight hours in a single day would be subject to the same overtime pay. However, drivers could not work more than 44 hours a week, regardless of overtime incurred Monday-Friday. In other words, if a driver worked a total of four hours of overtime during the regular workweek, the driver would not be allowed to work on Saturday. The striking drivers voted to accept the terms; however, their employers initially resisted. Eventually, cracks formed in the employers’ opposition, and over the next several days, more drivers and employers broke ranks and agreed to LaGuardia’s terms. The drivers’ strike ended on Oct. 2, 1938, when all major trucking firms agreed to the conditions. The aftermath of the New York City truckers’ strike created some changes at the federal level. No longer did the Motor Carrier Association push for a 60-hour workweek. To help ensure drivers were paid for their work, it initiated the use of driving logs. The agency also approved the use of “sleeper” cabs to address long-distance drivers and the need for rest periods along their routes. Perhaps most importantly, the truckers’ strike made Americans recognize how important trucking had become to an economy that 20 years earlier was driven by railroad and wagons transporting freight. That historic strike of 1938 also helped set the stage for interstate regulations related to trucking — and an increased the federal government’s involvement in the freight industry. As port workers from Maine to Texas form picket lines in an attempt to better their working conditions, the question is this: The longshoremen supported truckers back in 1938. Will the trucking industry provide the same support back now? Time will tell.

Western swing entertainer Spade Cooley detoured down a murderous path

By Kris Rutherford - September 25, 2024

It’s generally accepted that Bob Wills, along with his Texas Playboys, remains the “King of Western Swing.” But in the 1940s and early 1950s, a competition was afoot. While Wills held firm control of Western Swing bragging rights in Texas, on the West Coast, another musician — “Spade” Cooley — busily fought Bob Wills for the top spot. Cooley was indeed a fine musician, band leader and part-time silver screen star. He even had some accomplishments to back up his claim to being Hollywood’s “King of Western Swing.” But in spite of any acclaims Cooley received as an entertainer, his legacy is that of a vile human being. Donnell Clyde Cooley was born in 1910 in Grand, Oklahoma, a community that today is a ghost town a few miles east of the Texas Panhandle. Because he was one-quarter Cherokee, Cooley attended what was then known as an “Indian School” in Oregon. It was there he perfected the art of playing the fiddle — something his father had introduced him to back on the pre-depression Oklahoma farm. In fact, Cooley had his eyes set on becoming not just a fiddler but a violin virtuoso. However, he was held back from this goal by lack of access to a formal music education and violin-specific lessons. But he “made do” as what musicians might consider a second-rate violinist — a fiddler with flexibility to play varied forms of music. When he was 17, Cooley returned to Oklahoma and married his first wife. The entire family moved to the West Coast during the Dust Bowl years, however, and Cooley’s set out to forge his path. Unlike the rest of his family, he would not be a migrant farm laborer. His future was in music. Soon after arriving in California, Cooley earned the nickname “Spade” after a particularly successful run at the poker table. To hear Cooley tell the story, he drew three consecutive full houses of spades — but that claim is highly questionable. The odds of drawing a full house of spades just once are only 1 in 13,000. One can only imagine the odds of doing it three consecutive times! Regardless, the nickname stuck. It may have been an early indicator of Cooley’s shady character. While his family worked in the fields, Cooley took a job playing the fiddle in the Venice Pier Ballroom, a venue that drew thousands of dancers on weekend nights throughout the year. As lead fiddler in Jimmy Wakely’s Big Band, Cooley gained a lot of exposure. Then, when Wakely quit the band for a career as an actor, Cooley took over as bandleader. The following 18 months brought the Venice Pier Ballroom some of its biggest fame as Cooley took Bob Wills head-on in the fight for “King of Western Swing.” As part of his battle to be king, Cooley hired Tex Williams, a deep baritone, as his lead vocalist. Williams’ counterpart in Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys was the famed Tommy Duncan. As far as Cooley was concerned, the fight for supremacy was on. In 1944, Cooley recorded his first successful record, “Shame on You,” which perhaps offered a hint of what was to come as he embarked upon a womanizing, heavy-drinking lifestyle. The song sat at No. 1 for a full two months and was one of six consecutive Top 10 tunes he recorded. Perhaps Cooley’s most notable tune was “Detour (there’s a muddy road ahead),” a song that today still receives occasional airplay on online country music platforms. During this period, he married his second wife, Ella Mae Evans, a singer in his band. Despite Cooley’s immense success as a bandleader, his eye was on the silver screen. One afternoon, he was hanging around Gene Autry’s set, and Autry almost mistook Cooley for Roy Rogers. Autrey introduced the two, and Rogers hired Cooley to be his stand-in and stunt double. Cooley went on to appear in 38 western films. But Rogers recognized Cooley for his fiddle-playing even more than his acting. Cooley soon became lead fiddler in Roy Rogers band, “Riders of the Purple Sage.” The gig enabled Cooley to appear in even more western films during the 1940s. By 1948, Spade Cooley, a good-looking, well-spoken performer, attracted the attention of television producers. Soon he had his own variety show, aptly named “The Spade Cooley Show.” The show was a huge success on the West Coast and soon went national. It lasted until 1956 when executives cancelled it because of changing viewer patterns. Nonetheless, the television show, along with his other accomplishments in California’s entertainment scene, gained Cooley his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. The concrete was poured in early 1960. If the Walk of Fame’s governing body had known what was to come, perhaps it wouldn’t have been so hasty to immortalize Spade Cooley’s name. By all visible accounts, Cooley’s second marriage was no different than any in Hollywood — high profile and followed by the media. The undertones of what went on in the Cooley household didn’t make the media; however, it was well-known that the marriage was not as smooth as it seemed. Cooley accused his wife of having an affair with Roy Rogers, something she later admitted to, either because it was fact or to merely suit the views of her increasingly drunken husband. In turn, she accused Cooley of being the womanizer he was already well known to be. She claimed he impregnated 10 women (none of them her) in a single year. The claims against his character didn’t set well with Cooley, but no one imagined how violent a man he had become. On April 3, 1961, Cooley and his wife had an argument at their home outside Los Angeles. Apparently wildly drunk and overcome with jealousy (Ella Mae had filed for divorce just days earlier), Cooley became increasingly violent. The ensuing fight is well-documented elsewhere, and there is no need to go into the details here. Quite simply, Spade Cooley beat his wife to death in front of their 14-year-old daughter. Cooley was soon arrested. He claimed innocence by reason of insanity. In a high-profile trial during which Cooley’s daughter testified against him, the state forced him to drop his insanity plea. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. However, the judge ruled that Cooley was not a candidate to be imprisoned at one of California’s famed prison farms like Folsom or San Quentin, instead sentencing him to a state hospital. There, Cooley had an easy sentence. As a celebrity, he was welcomed by both the staff and inmates, and he regularly entertained and taught music classes. He served nine years of his sentence before being paroled effective February of 1970. It’s believed that actor-turned-California-governor Ronald Reagan was instrumental in granting Cooley his freedom. On November 23, 1969, shortly before his scheduled release, Cooley was granted permission to play a benefit concert in California’s Alameda County. He wowed the crowd — until the first intermission, when he went backstage to sign autographs and get ready for his second appearance. During that fateful intermission, he dropped dead of a massive heart attack. Many thought it was fitting for a man who had served so little time for such a heinous crime. In the years since, when one talks about the “King of Western Swing,” Spade Cooley hardly receives a mention. It is Bob Wills who ultimately claimed the title. Until next time, watch out for those detours, and let this story be a cautionary tale. Even a muddy road through crop fields might be better than what that deceptively glamorous route offers. Photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society

Malcom McLean: Former gas jockey revolutionized shipping to become ‘father of containerization’

By Kris Rutherford - September 6, 2024

Malcom McLean (1913-2001) despised inefficiency. So determined was he to streamline his life and business that he dropped the superfluous letter “l” from “Malcolm” to make his name a little shorter to write. “Who on earth is Malcom McLean and why do we care?” you might ask. Bear with me as I share my tale, and you’ll soon understand the role he played in innovating the freight industry. A penchant for saving time and money Even as a youngster, McLeandemonstrated a zeal for making money, selling eggs from the family farm at a roadside stand in North Carolina. After graduating from high school, he didn’t bother with college (perhaps he found the process of getting an education too cumbersome). Instead, he went to work as a stockboy in a grocery store. In 1931, McLean took his hard-earned money and bought a gas station. While working in the gasoline business, he found a way to save $5 — a substantial sum in those days — on each delivery of gas used to fill his tanks, and he immediately implemented it. Three years later, he decided to expand his business and bought a single delivery truck, which he drove. That truck was the first of many in what became one of the Southeast’s largest truck lines — McLean Trucking — which hauled textiles and cigarettes along the East Coast. And McLean continued to look for ways to save money. At one point he redesigned his trailers to increase their aerodynamics, saving a few cents on every tank of gas his trucks burned. Over the next decade, those few cents began to add up. When traffic congestion in the U.S. increased in the early 1950s, McLean set out to find a way for his business to operate efficiently. The interstate system was still years away, and McClean knew he couldn’t control any of the traffic on the highways other than his trucks. And those trucks, all too often, were stuck in traffic. McLean’s solution was to reduce his reliance on highway transport — he’d move his cargo by sea instead. However, he discovered, this wasn’t as simple as it sounded. The process of shipping by vessel had been essentially unchanged for centuries. Products were delivered to the docks in containers of all types, shapes and sizes. Each container was loaded individually onto a ship, which carried tens of thousands of containers ranging from bags to boxes. Once a ship reached its destination, all those tens of thousands of containers had to be offloaded and set out on the dock. From there, they were reloaded onto trains, trucks or wagons and sent to their final destinations. During this process, each and every container had to be picked up and moved at least five times before. McLean determined that the cost at each point of handling was nearly $6 per ton. He knew a more efficient method of shipping could be developed. So, he came up with an idea that revolutionized the shipping business. If his trucks could simply drop a fully loaded trailer on the dock to be transferred in its entirety to a ship, McLean surmised, he could save time and money picking the trailers up at ports to be hauled by truck. He could ship several trailers at once, and his idea would minimize highway time between the point his trucks loaded with cargo reached their destinations. Unfortunately, McLean’s, his idea was filled with inefficiencies of its own. First, trailers took up far too much space on an oceangoing vessel, reducing the amount of cargo the ship could transport. The birth of the shipping container McLean addressed this problem by designing shipping containers that could be separated from the trailer chassis. Not only did this innovation eliminate the need for the entire trailer to be shipped, but it allowed the containers to be stacked, greatly increasing the amount of cargo a ship could transport. But there was yet another problem: The shipping industry wasn’t equipped to unload such heavy containers. Cranes had to be built and installed at the docks, and the docks had to be retrofitted to compensate for the space taken up by the new cranes. Furthermore, the longshoremen who had long worked the docks vehemently opposed the idea of containerization. After all, the new method decreased the need for manual labor. Unions fought against McLean’s idea, at least until regulators assured them that workers’ wages would not be cut as a result of the innovation. With McLean’s method reducing handling costs to only eighteen cents per ton, the longshoremen’s fears were warranted — but other jobs became available that were far less strenuous and dangerous than the ones longshoremen had performed for centuries. In 1955, McLean sold off his trucking business and invested in a fledgling shipping line, which he renamed “Sea Land Service.” Soon, McLean’s ships carried his specially designed cargo containers all along the East Coast, eventually using the Panama Canal to serve the West Coast and Alaska as well. In 1964, when an earthquake in Alaska created a desperate need for building materials, only Malcom McLean’s shipping business could reach the state with the necessary speed. Before long, other shippers wanted in on McLean’s innovation. They designed similar containers, but Mclean held the patent on his own, so no universal design was available to serve every ship. The inefficiency of having numerous container designs disturbed McLean — and the military was particularly interested in standardizing shipping in order to supply troops in Vietnam. So, McLean released his patent. Soon all shipping containers were of the same design; they could be easily stacked and could be mounted on any trailer chassis. McLean’s Sea Land Service became the standard for international shipping. So, the next time you see one of those now-familiar pod-like containers traveling down the highway or being hauled by rail — or you position your rig beneath a crane at a sea port and see the endless stacks of neatly stacked containers on board the ships entering and leaving port — you can thank McLean’s unyielding passion for efficiency. McLean’s innovations in intermodal transportation earned him the title, “The Father of Containerization.” For the young egg salesman from North Carolina, the high seas were likely only a dream. But his invention goes down as one of the most important in shipping history.

Tracy Byrd: This cowboy-hat-wearing performer is from the country — and he likes it that way

By Kris Rutherford - August 27, 2024

During the 1970s, as country music artists gradually crossed over to pop, one casualty of the genre’s evolution was the cowboy hat. While some artists like Riders in the Sky and Hank Williams Jr. held on to the tradition, many singers of the era abandoned hats. Some gave up their cowboys hats for ball caps — and some of the old cowboy-hat-wearing singers, like Ernest Tubb, decided their time in music had passed. The likes of Kenny Rogers and Ronnie Milsap, kings of crossover, never wore hats on stage, but their popularity came at a time when the genre didn’t command it. Then, with the arrival of the 1980s and the phenomenal success of George Strait, the cowboy hat began to return to country music. Strait has never been seen on stage without his trademark Resistol cowboy hat, either black or off-white, depending on the season (if you’d like one of your own, they’re about $285). Imitation is the best form of flattery, and by the end of the decade — and a few Entertainer of the Year awards for Strait — the cowboy hat made its return to mainstream country music. In fact, enough performers took to wearing cowboy boy hats that they almost made a sub-genre themselves, known as “hat acts.” The hat became so important as a part of these artists’ personas that they were contractually required to wear them. Some of these performers came and went, while others held on throughout the 1990s. One of the more successful hat acts was Tracy Byrd. Tracy Byrd came by his cowboy hat honestly. He was a native Texan, born in Vidor in 1966. First attending college at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, Byrd later transferred to what is now Texas State University to study business. While there, he performed as a vocalist with a local band called “Rimfire,” which also featured fellow southeast Texan and future hat act star Mark Chesnut. But Byrd had little musical ambition. He wasn’t an outstanding guitar player, but he DID have a voice. On the dare of a friend, he recorded Hank Williams’ “You’re Cheatin’ Heart” at a small studio. The results so impressed the studio owner that he entered Byrd in a local talent contest. He must have fared well; by 1992, MCA had signed Tracy Byrd to a recording contract. Byrd’s first two singles with MCA made little noise on the charts, with neither breaking into the Top 40. Then came a bombshell. “Holding Heaven” — just Byrd’s third single from his debut album — skyrocketed to No. 1. After a lackluster follow-up single, Byrd released his second album, “No Ordinary Man,” and began a streak of Top 10 hits with “Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous” and what has become his signature song, “Watermelon Crawl.” He followed up those efforts with a No. 5 hit, “The First Step,” then released the No. 2, “The Keeper of the Stars.” The latter won Song of the Year at the Academy of Country Music awards in 1995. After a lackluster third album, Byrd released “Big Love” in 1996. The title track made it to No. 3 on the charts. The follow up, a cover of Johnny Paycheck’s “Don’t Take Her, She’s All I’ve Got,” followed at No. 4. He scored another No. 3 hit two years later with “I’m From the Country.” It would be another four years before he racked up another big hit with “Ten Rounds of Jose Cuervo.” This one reached No. 1 and is noted by some sources as the “funniest song in country music history.” If there had been any question about Tracy Byrd’s priorities after “I’m From the Country,” all one had to do was look at his pursuits beyond music to see he truly was a country boy at heart. An outdoorsman, Byrd is credited with developing a crank bait, aptly named, “Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous.” He hosted the “Tracy Byrd Homecoming Weekend” — a golf, music and fishing event to raise money for children’s charities — and he competed in the Houston Marathon in 2002. Byrd even published a book, “Eat Like a Byrd,” a collection of his favorite outdoor recipes. As an outdoorsman, Byrd has appeared on TNN Outdoors and Mossy Oak’s “Hunting the Country” television shows. In fact, he frequently wears camo while performing on stage, and his bass players uses a camo-themed instrument. As for TNN, Byrd says, “I love hunting and fishing. The TNN work gives me another avenue to express what I feel and love to do and tell all the people that’s important to us. God has given me a gift. People look up to me and I believe that I have a responsibility to give something back to them. I want to support hunting, fishing and the out-of-doors. I believe that nature enhances my creativity.” He notes his love of the outdoors in one of his later songs. In “Before I Die,” he sings, “I wanna float the Mississippi in a boat I’ve yet to buy.” He considers “Before I Die” to be among his favorite songs he ever recorded, despite the fact it was released long after the name Tracy Byrd quit appearing on country music charts. When it comes down to it, for Tracy Byrd, the “hat act” is really no act at all. He truly is a cowboy-hat-wearing lover of the Texas outdoors, and he’s not ashamed to let anyone know. Until next time, don’t go 10 rounds with Jose Cuervo. As Tracy Byrd sings, “after round five or round six” you’ll have forgot what you came to forget in the first place. Photo from tracybyrdmusic.com.

From disco to country, ‘Big’ Al Downing made his mark

By Kris Rutherford - July 22, 2024

Only one performing artist can lay claim to having the No. 1 disco single in the U.S. and Europe one year and following it up with a Top 20 country single just two years later. And the fact that artist was a Black man only makes the feat more impressive. Considering his background, it’s only natural that “Big” Al Downing would be the man to achieve this feat. Alexander “Al” Downing was born in 1940, one of 12 children in a sharecropping family in Centralia, Oklahoma. Young Al had no musical training, but he grew up singing gospel songs with his family. It wasn’t long until he and his brothers dragged home a broken-down piano. At age 12, Downing was introduced to his first musical instrument. By banging the keys of the piano — only 40 of which worked — he learned to imitate the likes of Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and Little Richard. He did it all by ear. When Downing’s parents saved enough money to pay for piano lessons for their boy, the instructor told his parents, after just one lesson, to leave him alone. “He has a gift from God,” the instructor said. Downing never did learn to read music, and he played by ear throughout his career. By the time Downing was 17, he faced a decision. Would he go for a career in. music, or would he accept the offer of a basketball scholarship to Kansas State University? While trying to decide, he entered a talent show in Coffeyville, Kansas … and took home first prize for his rendition of “Blueberry Hill.” As fate would have it, Bobby Poe, an area band leader who just happened to be in the audience for that performance, tracked Downing down and asked him to join his band. The decision was made on the spot: Basketball’s loss would be music’s gain. The Poe Band played rockabilly music across Kansas and Oklahoma at beer joints and other small venues. A year later, country star Wanda Jackson heard the band and hired them on for her upcoming tour. Downing, who had now earned the nickname “Big” Al because of his 6-foot, 3-inch, 275- pound frame, was the only Black member of the entourage. Downing claimed that he never experienced much in the way of racism as a child — but that changed once he joined Jackson’s band. He couldn’t stay in the same hotels as the band, and he couldn’t eat in the same restaurants. On occasion, a promoter would tell Jackson her big piano player wasn’t welcome on stage. To that she would answer, “Let’s pack it up,” and the performance would be canceled. When the gig with Jackson ended, the Poe Band moved east, where, the group had heard, a band could make a hundred dollars a week around Boston. That was big money in those days, but the band wound up playing seven days a week, 13 hours a day — and all for the sum of $90. Still, Downing believed it was good money. Over the course of his first decade in the music business, Big Al Downing played it all, from gospel to rockabilly, rhythm and blues to country. But he never made a big splash for himself. And Downing didn’t want to play in a backup band all his life; he wanted to play front and center. In the early 1970s, he cut a couple of solo songs, but they received no exposure. But when fame struck, it struck hard. Disco music was all the rage in the mid-1970s. In 1975, Big Al Dowing cut a record that would set his career in motion. The self-written, “I’ll Be Holding On” tracked up the disco charts in both the U.S. and Europe, eventually spending three weeks at No. 1. Although Downing said he hated the genre, he went looking for more disco material to cut an album. That’s when a producer asked Downing to play some of his country tunes. “He brought out the country in me,” Downing said. Downing’s next charting song came two years later when Warner Records released “Mr. Jones,” a song that climbed into Country Music’s Top 20. It was a risqué move for a singer who was looking to break into commercial country music, as the song told the story of a Black sharecropper who was raising a white son. While critics couldn’t handle the nature of the lyrics, listeners loved the song. Eventually, it became Downing’s signature song — though not his highest rated. That came with his next release, “Touch Me,” a Conway Twitty-inspired song that rose to No. 18 on the country charts. A year later, he scored big with one of the saddest cheating songs you’ll ever hear, “The Story Behind the Story.” He followed that up with “Bring It on Home,” a Top 20 tune. Then, inexplicably, Warner Records turned him loose from his contract. They never even released a Big Al Downing album. Downing never blamed country fans for his lack of success with Warner. “It doesn’t matter what color you are,” he said. “If you’re sincere, the fans will accept you.” That’s how he explained the mass popularity of Charley Pride. “He is a sincere singer,” Downing said. Downing never wanted to be a superstar. “I don’t want to see rockets,” he said. “Just an occasional boom will satisfy me.” And an occasional boom is just what he made. In 1979, he was named Billboard’s top new country performer, in the midst of his string of four hit records. But after the early 1980s passed, Downing had trouble gaining a foothold in any type of music. He concentrated on country, but the music executives played it too cautiously to allow Downing to achieve stardom. So, he moved to New England and played small venues throughout most of the remainder of his career. He eventually did cut his debut album, “Big Al Downing.”. And, yes, Downing cut his own trucking song, “Counting the Highway Signs.” You can hear it on Amazon music. Until next time, call up Big Al Downing on Alexa. He was a vastly underrated singer — and one the world lost too early back in 2005. You’ll be glad you gave him a listen.

Review: ‘Long Haul’ offers a glimpse into the darker side of trucking

By Kris Rutherford - July 18, 2024

Editor’s note: When The Trucker first heard about Frank Figliuzzi’s foray into the dark world of serial killers who take advantage of the transient nature of life as truck drivers, we were intrigued. While we know the majority of drivers are not criminals, we are also painfully aware that the small percentage who are give the entire industry a bad reputation. In this honest, open review of “Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers,” The Trucker’s Kris Rutherford opens the door for conversation about an uncomfortable topic. In his groundbreaking new book, “Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers,” former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi, tackles a subject often swept under the rug by the trucking industry — sex trafficking and the dangers some truck drivers pose to women along the nation’s highways. Figliuzzi’s approach to the subject doesn’t so much blame truck drivers for a national epidemic of homicides among sex workers; instead, he offers a three-pronged view into the issue, providing insight into the cultures from which the players in the crimes — and the battle against them — live. First, there is the dark world of sex trafficking where women may be controlled by pimps, work as “renegade” prostitutes or as “outlaws” who not only serve as prostitutes but also attempt to steal from their trucker customers in the process. Secondly, Figliuzzi offers insight into local, state and national investigative techniques, providing a view of how law enforcement is attacking an issue growing in the public conscious or, in some cases, doing its best to ignore the problem. Finally, he gives readers an inside view of the life of a truck driver — not so much the life of a driver who’s prone to become a serial killer, but an everyday Joe (or in this case, Mike) who’s simply trying to earn a living on the highways of America. In approaching his subject, the author pulls no punches. The book notes that more than 25 truck drivers are currently serving prison sentences for the murders of sex workers that they took captive in what amount to “murderhomes” on wheels, according to Figliuzzi. The ability to kidnap women at one location and haul them many miles before dumping their lifeless bodies by the road at a rest area or near secluded woods is one reason truckers have been pinpointed in so many crimes. In fact, at this time 850 unsolved murders have been linked to this “solitary breed of predators — truck drivers.” But Figliuzzi doesn’t play the blame game. Instead, he takes readers on a week-long trip with a hard-working driver — one who can’t conceivably have the time to partake in the sex services available at so many truck stops and highway rest areas around the country. Figliuzzi offers an insider’s view of the sex trade as described by anonymous survivors in various stages of recovery. We learn how the sex trade operates, who are likely victims, how they become trapped in the lifestyle and the devastating role of drugs that make escape seemingly impossible. The crimes pimps commit against their victims are those of outrage, he says, and forced drug addiction is perhaps their most valuable tool. On board a Volvo big rig hauling a flatbed trailer, Figliuzzi and his driving partner, Mike, make their way through America’s Midwest. Along the journey, Mike attempts to meet the goal of maximizing his daily profit through a well-planned — but often interrupted — series of loadings and drop-offs at customer facilities. While on the open road, Mike reveals his strengths, weaknesses and frustrations of a career in an industry that has many moving parts and opportunities for breakdown, both human and mechanical. The book’s description makes it difficult to imagine a driver spending a career without experiencing some sort of mental breakdown — perhaps the type of breakdown that could send any employee in any field into a murderous nightmare. In the third story within Long Haul, Figliuzzi looks into the world of members of law enforcement who battle sex trafficking and associated violence on a daily basis, as well as investigators looking for trends and ways to solve cold cases. Readers are given a look inside the FBI’s Highway Serial Killings Initiative (HSK), an investigative effort to comb the files of cold cases, looking for links that might connect them to a single killer that can be pursued by law enforcement. The HSK concentrates its efforts on murders that meet its criteria, “female victims of opportunity, close to the highway, often near rest stops, and dumped close to the road.” A shocking majority of such murders can be found along the Interstate 40 corridor that cuts an east-west swath across the southern United States, passing through cities such as Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City and Albuquerque. In one set of murders, the common link is Oklahoma, where victims are targeted and taken on murderous trips across the country. While “Long Haul” is a quick-moving read, it is far from a comfortable one. Readers — including truck drivers — who finish the book will never view truck stops or highway rest areas in the same way, and they may even be discouraged from visiting such facilities at night. But so much of the criminal activity described in the book takes place in broad daylight that avoiding nighttime stops is merely for one’s own comfort. It’s hard to say that the book’s target audience is any single set of readers. “Long Haul” has a little bit of something for everyone … true crime, investigative techniques and an inside look at the dark world of the sex trade. Perhaps its most valuable purpose is to provide unburnished insights for aspiring truckers, helping them determine whether they’re up to the task. As evidenced by “Long Haul,” life on the road as a truck driver is a whole lot more than making deliveries and following traffic safety standards. It’s a career that is pent with danger at every stop, and it’s one that requires drivers be on the lookout for danger — both to themselves and to others — even when the ELD registers “off-duty.”

HEROES FOR HIRE: Military veterans bring valuable skills to jobs in the civilian sector

By Kris Rutherford - July 5, 2024

Since the Class B Standardized Military Truck, also known as the “Liberty Truck,” debuted at the start of World War I, skilled operators have been needed for military operations. As trucks improved during and after the war, they became vehicles society relied on for the rapid advent of new technologies and transportation systems. In fact, at the time, the military offered some of the best training available for operators of heavy vehicles. It’s likely no surprise that, as the war came to an end and soldiers returned home to their families and civilian life, many veterans found employment as drivers, navigating delivery trucks through city streets and along the nation’s highways. Today, the various branches of the U.S. military operate more than 170,000 non-combat trucks in dozens of models. Each of these trucks has one thing in common: There is a skilled driver behind the wheel. It is for this reason that many commercial motor carriers so highly prize drivers who have served in the military. When reviewing applications from military veterans, carrier recruiters should consider the valuable skills, characteristics and personality traits that are typical of service members and carefully evaluate each candidate. At the same time, it is also important that human resources professionals set aside any preconceived stereotypes surrounding the term “veteran.” The fact is, despite veterans’ service to their country, it is commonly believed that most carry “baggage” because of their experiences, especially those who have seen active combat. However, the truth is that every potential driver, whether civilian or military, has challenges and issues to overcome. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not limited to soldiers and law enforcement officers. See beyond the surface. It’s the HR professional’s job to see through those challenges and find the quality employee within. Earlier this year, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) presented a webinar on the topic, “The Veteran Among Us.” In the webinar, panelists discussed the challenges and opportunities veterans have when leaving the military and finding jobs in the civilian sector. One staggering statistic noted is that, upon discharge, 86% of those leaving the military service do not know what they want to do career-wise. That’s a huge pool of talent just waiting to be guided along the best path. When employers learn the intangible and transferable skills the typical veteran possesses, they often realize those qualities make former service members ideal job candidates for motor carriers and other transportation-oriented businesses. In the end, it is up to trucking industry recruiters to recognize those skills and help transitioning soldiers embark on successful careers. Change is never easy. This is a truth for the workforce in general, but it can be especially true when recruiting veterans. Many veterans emerge from the military with unique challenges. Some walk out the gate into civilian life with no home to go to. Some face daunting financial issues. And some are dealing with substance abuse. Whether a former service member is struggling with such challenges or not, an employer can play an important role in helping a veteran conquer what can be a difficult transition to a civilian career. One of the best ways to take advantage of a veteran’s unique skillset is by placing them in a recruiting role, working to help other service members step into a successful career. Veterans know veterans best, and they know what motivates them. One in four veterans is currently employed in the transportation and logistics industry. Why do former military personnel often find trucking so appealing? First, the industry is an excellent example of civilian employers taking advantage of transferable skills. Just as the periods following World Wars I and II were marked by a stream of motor pool operators entering civilian life, the same holds true with the military today. Intangible, transferable, skills possessed in abundance by veterans are just waiting to be retargeted in the trucking industry. It’s up to HR leaders to be prepared — to have programs already in place that attract veterans and to offer attractive benefits. Look for transferable skills. The transferable skills possessed by former service members are varied, and they are attractive to employers in all sectors. First, consider the intangibles. Veterans typically possess empathy and critical thinking skills, and they are adept at decision making, even under pressure. When it comes to work ethic, teamwork, leadership, mental toughness and ability to adapt to various situations, it’s can be hard to find job candidates as well-qualified as veterans. In fact, studies show that more than 75% of veterans exhibit each of these traits upon exiting the military. One of the issues facing recruiters when reviewing veteran’s resumes is the way the skills are listed and how they transfer to the civilian job description. Typically, recruiters find that veteran’s resumes focus on teamwork, how they fit into a team environment, their role within a team, and their importance to team success. What veterans don’t realize is that in the civilian workforce, while being able to work within a team is important, it is not the same as the military. Recruiters are looking at resumes of specific candidates who will fill specific roles. They want to know the candidates on an individual level. It is important that veterans realize the employer is interested in the skills that represent the individual. Look at the individual. Viewing a veteran as an individual rather than a stereotype is especially important in the transportation sector. Consider truck drivers. They most often work alone, sometimes in the overnight hours when the world around them is asleep. It can be a lonely career. It is important that motor carriers implement ways to interact with truck drivers aside from just seeing them in the office once a week. They must monitor the mental health of all employees who are living and working alone — whether they are military veterans or lifelong civilians. Leading companies implement mental health services into their HR departments. This has been especially important since the COVID-19 pandemic, and employers have heeded the call. Coming out of the pandemic, only 30% to 40% of companies in any sector offered mental health services. Today that number has increased to 90%, a testament to the ability of corporate America to react to changing times and worker needs. Create a set of best practices. The overriding need in the transportation industry is a set of best practices for recruiting military veterans. Such practices should include guidelines and expectations, personal and professional development opportunities, and mentoring programs (preferably with a veteran-veteran relationship). The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recognizes the value of bringing skilled veterans into the trucking industry. To help streamline the transition from the military to trucking, FMCSA is implementing programs allowing veterans to skip the written and/or skills tests to earn a CDL — provided a set of specific requirements is met. Likewise, the agency continues to experiment with allowing veterans under age 21 to drive interstate routes. Ultimately, the success or failure of a carrier’s veteran recruitment effort is based on support from company leadership. When CEOs prioritize recruiting and retaining military veterans, they hire HR employees with dedication and determination to implement veteran recruitment programs. Working together, the industry can pave the way for a new wave of veterans to drive a new breed of “Liberty Truck” across North America.

Randy Travis’ new song welcomed by fans, debated by critics

By Kris Rutherford - June 29, 2024

If you followed the neo-traditionalist movement in 1980s and 1990s country music, no doubt you remember Randy Travis’ debut single, “1982.” The song hit the top of the charts for Travis in 1985, describing a mistake Travis wanted to go back and correct. “Operator, please connect me to 1982; I need to make apologies for what I didn’t do,” became a theme of Randy Travis songs for over three decades. But going back in time seemed impossible in 2013 when Travis suffered a debilitating stroke following a heart procedure. Given only a small chance of survival, Travis beat the odds — and he hasn’t been forgotten. The stroke left Randy Travis virtually speechless. Over the years, he has made occasional appearances on stage, notably leading the audience in a broken rendition of “Amazing Grace” at his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. And he put the exclamation point on his signature song “Forever and Ever, Amen,” in a live performance where various artists who have been influenced by Travis paid tribute to his music. While Travis has surprised us before, perhaps he saved his biggest surprise for what is happening with his music right now, 11 years after he physically lost his ability to sing. In May, Travis released what — to all but the keen listener’s ear — sounds like an original recording, “There ain’t no more where that came from.” The story behind the song makes us believe we can “lose our mind” and “go back in time” to when we were all a little younger and Travis was changing the course of country music history. It’s a story stirring debate in the music world. “There ain’t no more where that came from” is undoubtedly a Randy Travis song, but without the contribution of artificial intelligence, it would never have come to life. In a recent news story on “CBS Sunday Morning,” the details of the new song were revealed. Travis’ long-time producers teamed up with AI experts to recreate his voice in an all-new format. To oversimplify a complicated process, James Dupre, a performer with voice characteristics similar to Travis’, first recorded the song. Stripping away the background effects, AI professionals created a digital footprint of Dupre’s voice as it moved through the lyrics. In the meantime, AI techs combed through Travis’ vast body of work, catching each change in pitch, syllable and measure, breaking it up by the millisecond to create a second track using Travis’ voice. This track was overlaid on the digital footprint Dupre had made — and with added background music, “There ain’t no more where that came from” came to life. Randy Travis fans — and fans of country music in general — have warmed to the computer-generated return of Travis’ style. Comments posted to YouTube include, “Randy Travis brought back real county in the ’80s. Now he’s doing it again.” And, “Welcome back, Randy. So good to hear your voice.” Or, “Thank you, Jesus, for Randy Travis. Welcome back!” But on the other hand (no pun intended), musical purists are greeting Travis’ AI effort with skepticism or even outright criticism. As for Dupre, he says he’s thrilled that his music has taken on new meaning, but he also understands the skepticism from those who say AI-created entertainment is a dangerous path. Dupre told Rolling Stone, “… honestly, I’m still on the fence about AI use. But in this particular case, if Randy was still able to sing, he would be singing. Taking away his ability to use the technology, it just doesn’t make any sense to do that if it’s there. (Randy) gives it his blessing.” Dupre’s point about Travis’ blessing is important. Despite his stroke, Travis is still capable of making decisions, and he often writes what he cannot speak. It’s not like a team is taking advantage of Travis’ estate and putting digital recordings of his work together for their own gain. Another critic wrote harshly of the experiment, noting it should have a warning on the label — just like food products that contain preservatives. His point is not lost because “There ain’t no more where that came from” is strictly made from preservatives. It is far from organic. But so far, listeners seem to know this and accept it. Of late, the news has been filled with stories touting the good things AI will bring as well as the bad for which it could be used. Will AI eventually become more intelligent than its creators and bring all sorts of “end-of-the-world” scenarios sci-fi and George Orwell have envisioned for the past 75 years? (Like Travis, Orwell must have appreciated “1982” when his prophecies still had a chance of coming true). Or will the audio version of AI be combined with video technology and bring back the likes of John Wayne and Clark Gable to the big screen. And, if it does, will there even be a need for human performing artists anymore? After all, working with artists can be difficult — far less difficult than manipulating a computer program. The jury is out on what Randy Travis new song means for the music industry. But it’s been discussed that the song may be one of several the producers have in the works. We may soon be listening to an entire album of Randy Travis AI-generated songs. If that’s the case, it does prove one thing wrong with the newly released tune. There is actually a whole lot more where that came from. Until next time, take a trip back to 1982 and follow Randy Travis’ career right up to 2013 (and even beyond, up to today). It won’t be in real time, but these days, is anything?