Despite Billboard charts, Jimmy Buffett is no ‘one-hit wonder’
Truck drivers navigating the interstates aren’t much different than other American workers. Every worker thinks often of reaching the next destination, of finishing the next
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
The Charlie Daniels Band excelled at toeing the line between Southern rock and classic country
As a caveat to what you’ll read if you continue reading this column, I admit I am no expert on Southern rock music. After all,
‘Double-necked biscuit board’ drives Junior Brown’s ‘semi-crazy’ career
If your musical tastes are confined to Top 40 country radio, chances are you’ve never heard of Junior Brown. Despite a career dating back to
Trucking tunes from Down Under: Nev Nicholls enjoyed popularity with songs of the road
Big rigs, and of course, big rig drivers, are hardly unique to the U.S. Large numbers of Canadian and Mexican trucking firms employ drivers, and
Moore and Napier head for home with ‘Truck Driver’s Queen’
Just a few decades ago folks referred to almost any type of country music as “hillbilly” — a genre known primarily as bluegrass among music
Ricky Skaggs’ ‘Highway 40 Blues’ tells a familiar story of the long journey home
Of the countless miles I spent in the back seat of a Chevy station wagon, traveling along the interstates of America during the 1970s, I
Mickey Gilley leads two country music cultural shifts
By the late 1970s, Mickey Gilley was a bona fide country music headliner. But he couldn’t have imagined what lay in store for him as
Superstar cousins slowed Mickey Gilley’s rise to country music fame, Part 1
Few American performers are as closely associated with nightclubs — or in the case of country music, “honky-tonks” — than Mickey Gilley. The long-time musician,
After 60 years, Gene Watson’s ‘Farewell Party’ is nowhere in sight
It’s been six decades since Gene Watson emerged from his childhood home in Sumner, Texas, with a hobby that would eventually land him a spot
Nonsense syllables are completely clear on Del Reeves’ road to success
Downt-downt-da-downt-downt-downt. Downt downt-downt-downt-da-down. Scrutinizing readers will immediately recognize the above lyrics as those the late country star Roger Miller sang to accompany the guitar licks
Marty Stuart: A second look at a diverse performer who serves as an ‘ambassador’ of country music
If you’re going to be an ambassador, it’s best to know two things: What you represent and who you’re representing it toward. That’s the way
Marty Stuart: An artist whose evolution touches the breadth of country music, Part 1
The country music industry is filled with musicians and performers who are critically acclaimed yet have limited commercial success. No. 1 hits are rare for
1975 Entertainer of the Year John Denver found ‘country roads’ not as friendly as the ones he sang of in top-selling single
Country music has always been, like the country in which it was born, a “melting pot” of musical genres. Take a fresh dose of gospel,
Razzy Bailey’s trucking song was a follow-up to recording history
I recently discovered a satellite radio station, and it brought back a lot of memories. It’s not just the songs the station plays (it specializes
Music for the long haul: Take along a little George Strait for those holidays on the road
This Christmas Eve, whether you’re bedding down in your sleeper, dropping in on relatives, headed home or traveling on another long haul … well, there’s
Trucking tunes make Christmas on the road a little merrier
If a country music artist has any staying power, chances are that before they record their first “greatest hits” album, they’ve turned out a collection
‘Heroes of the Highway’ have inspired country music for decades
Thanks to television, a couple of movies and a whole lot of trucking songs in the 1970s, truck drivers became cultural icons. Listeners still look
These songs made truck drivers admired ‘outlaws’ of the highway
In 1980, when the Motor Carrier Act deregulated the trucking industry, competition among carriers became fierce. But in spite of this “deregulation,” the federal government
Former mortician scores big hit with ‘old school’ song that transcends genres
Years ago, I recall a local country radio poll asking listeners to pick from one of two newly released songs. Which would be the bigger
Modern agendas can’t sweep the meaning of this well-known trucking song from the highway
Dave Dudley released seven singles for country radio between 1955 and 1962, but as he told Vic Willis of The Willis Brothers on television one