Red Simpson's guest appearances

Red Simpson

"Walking The Floor" with Chris Shiflett

Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

Overdrive Radio

Robbie Fulks

Foy Vance

Marty Stuart

Robert Earl Keen

Vince Gill

Will Hoge

Dave Alvin

Lucinda Williams

Jim Lauderdale

Todd Snider

Ray Benson

Brandy Clark

Rodney Crowell

Brent Cobb

Lori McKenna

OwlTail

Trucking’s music history has no shortage of light-hearted songs, such as Kay Adams’ “Little Pink Mack,” Charlie Walker’s “Truck Drivin’ Cat With Nine Wives” or The Legendary Shack Shakers’ “The CB Song.”One of the most humorous, thanks to its sharp barbs aimed at truckers, is Joe Cecil “Red” Simpson’s “Hello, I’m a truck.” It hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in January 1972, making it the biggest hit single in Simpson’s long music career.“This song takes a different angle on the trucking experience,” says Todd Uhlman in this specia Songs of the Highway edition of Overdrive Radio. Uhlman's a specialist in American culture at the University of Dayton in Ohio. “It’s not about the trucker. It’s about the truck.”At the same time, the truck isn’t shy about criticizing truckers. The truck-narrator notes how drivers love to share “tales of daring” and “the girls they've left behind.”The truck criticizes its own driver, too, and, as Simpson often does, references other trucking songs: “Look at him sipping coffee and flirtin' with that waitress. And where do you think he left me? That's right, next to a cattle truck. Why couldn't we have put me next to that little pink Mack sitting over there?”Hear more about the truck's place in trucking-music history in this edition, and find so much more in Overdrive's 2021 60th-anniversary series covering trucking history and more via http://overdriveonline.com/trucking-history

Trucking’s music history has no shortage of light-hearted songs, such as Kay Adams’ “Little Pink Mack,” Charlie Walker’s “Truck Drivin’ Cat With Nine Wives” or The Legendary Shack Shakers’ “The CB Song.” One of the most humorous, thanks to its sharp barbs aimed at truckers, is Joe Cecil “Red” Simpson’s “Hello, I’m a truck.” It hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in January 1972, making it the biggest hit single in Simpson’s long music career. “This song takes a different angle on the trucking experience,” says Todd Uhlman in this specia Songs of the Highway edition of Overdrive Radio. Uhlman's a specialist in American culture at the University of Dayton in Ohio. “It’s not about the trucker. It’s about the truck.” At the same time, the truck isn’t shy about criticizing truckers. The truck-narrator notes how drivers love to share “tales of daring” and “the girls they've left behind.” The truck criticizes its own driver, too, and, as Simpson often does, references other trucking songs: “Look at him sipping coffee and flirtin' with that waitress. And where do you think he left me? That's right, next to a cattle truck. Why couldn't we have put me next to that little pink Mack sitting over there?” Hear more about the truck's place in trucking-music history in this edition, and find so much more in Overdrive's 2021 60th-anniversary series covering trucking history and more via <a href="http://overdriveonline.com/trucking-history" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://overdriveonline.com/trucking-history</a>

Songs of the Highway, No 7: 'Hello, I'm a truck,' by Red Simpson

Honky Tonks

Best known for singing a string of successful trucking-themed country songs in the 1960s and 70s, Red Simpson was also a highly influential behind-the-scenes songwriter from Bakersfield, California. Buck Owens recorded more than 30 Simpson originals, including the Top 10 hits “Gonna Have Love,” “Sam’s Place,” and “Kansas City Song.” Additionally, Red penned perennial standards, such as “Close Up the Honky Tonks” and “You Don’t Have Very Far to Go.” As an artist, he released a total of seven albums for Capitol and logged seven charting singles onBillboard’s country rankings, including the Top 40 hits “Roll Truck Roll” and “The Highway Patrol.” He is perhaps best known, however, for singing “I’m a Truck,” which hit the Top 5 in 1972. Simpson played guitar on most of Buck Owens’ recording dates in the mid-1960s, including sessions that produced hits such as “Buckaroo” and “Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line.” He went on to play numerous sessions with Merle Haggard, who referred to Simpson as a “hillbilly hippy.” Merle recorded a couple of Simpson originals on his 1969 album Pride in What I Am, and Red went on to play guitar on Haggard’s classic live LP, Okie From Muskogee. A half dozen other Simpson compositions have been recorded by Haggard, who wrote “A Bar in Bakersfield” in tribute to his old friend. As a songwriter, Simpson enjoyed additional charting singles by Charlie Walker, Wynn Stewart, Junior Brown, and others. His songs have also been recorded by Ferlin Husky, Johnny Paycheck, Wanda Jackson, The Byrds, Gram Parsons, Dave Dudley, Roy Clark, Roseanne Cash, Steve Wariner, Lucinda Williams, Alan Jackson, Candi Staton, Dwight Yoakam, and many more. Simpson died on January 8, 2016. This is the final in-depth interview with the California country mainstay Bob Dylan once called "the forgotten man of the Bakersfield Sound."

Best known for singing a string of successful trucking-themed country songs in the 1960s and 70s, Red Simpson was also a highly influential behind-the-scenes songwriter from Bakersfield, California. Buck Owens recorded more than 30 Simpson originals, including the Top 10 hits “Gonna Have Love,” “Sam’s Place,” and “Kansas City Song.” Additionally, Red penned perennial standards, such as “Close Up the Honky Tonks” and “You Don’t Have Very Far to Go.” As an artist, he released a total of seven albums for Capitol and logged seven charting singles onBillboard’s country rankings, including the Top 40 hits “Roll Truck Roll” and “The Highway Patrol.” He is perhaps best known, however, for singing “I’m a Truck,” which hit the Top 5 in 1972. Simpson played guitar on most of Buck Owens’ recording dates in the mid-1960s, including sessions that produced hits such as “Buckaroo” and “Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line.” He went on to play numerous sessions with Merle Haggard, who referred to Simpson as a “hillbilly hippy.” Merle recorded a couple of Simpson originals on his 1969 album Pride in What I Am, and Red went on to play guitar on Haggard’s classic live LP, Okie From Muskogee. A half dozen other Simpson compositions have been recorded by Haggard, who wrote “A Bar in Bakersfield” in tribute to his old friend. As a songwriter, Simpson enjoyed additional charting singles by Charlie Walker, Wynn Stewart, Junior Brown, and others. His songs have also been recorded by Ferlin Husky, Johnny Paycheck, Wanda Jackson, The Byrds, Gram Parsons, Dave Dudley, Roy Clark, Roseanne Cash, Steve Wariner, Lucinda Williams, Alan Jackson, Candi Staton, Dwight Yoakam, and many more. Simpson died on January 8, 2016. This is the final in-depth interview with the California country mainstay Bob Dylan once called "the forgotten man of the Bakersfield Sound."

Ep. 28 - RED SIMPSON ("Close Up the Honky Tonks")

In the first episode of "Walking The Floor," Chris interviews legendary Bakersfield singer/songwriter Red Simpson.

In the first episode of "Walking The Floor," Chris interviews legendary Bakersfield singer/songwriter Red Simpson.

Episode 1 - Red Simpson