Each time Judith Markelz hears the “America’s Truckers Salute American Soldiers” CD, she remembers the generosity of the truckers who donated 600 of the albums to the Warrior and Family Support Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

“It was an incredible gesture of caring,” observes Markelz, the center’s program manager. “It was so nice of them to do this for us. That somebody went to that kind of effort is what the soldiers recognize and they love it.”

Trucker Dale “Shameless” Adams spearheaded the making of the album, which features 13 songs written by professional truck drivers. Adams, a songwriter himself, came up with the idea after hearing the patriotic song “Tears of Pride” by Don “Guitar Picker” Whatley. “I thought that other truckers might also have songs that we could put together for the soldiers,” Adams says. “I started thinking about sponsors and one thing led to another.”

Adams, who started his trucking career 38 years ago, touches the entertainment industry each day in his work, hauling production equipment for events such as the CMA Awards and the Academy Awards. His passion for songwriting stems from his interest in writing poems, which he sometimes reads on XM 171 during the Marcia Campbell show.

It wasn’t until three years ago that Adams started putting his poems to music. Since then, he and his wife, Wanda, have written and recorded several songs. “I write the lyrics and the melody,” he explains. “I can’t play an instrument and I don’t sing because everyone starts howling when I do.”

Adams relies on Allana “Sparkplug” Russell of Our Crystal Ball Publishing in Virginia to add music to his lyrics in her home recording studio. That’s one reason he asked for her help with his patriotic compilation.

Russell and her husband, Herb, are truck drivers who drive long-haul from Virginia to California and back. Herb got into the business in 1971; Allana started driving in 1995. “We’ve been driving as a team for three years,” she says. “Both of us were running solo before and for a while after we married.”

Allana has been playing guitar and writing songs since her childhood. In addition to the guitar, she plays several other instruments, including the mandolin, fiddle and bass guitar. “I also do a little bit on the keyboard and banjo,” she says. Herb plays a variety of instruments as well.

At their studio, the couple records Allana’s music along with demos for other truck drivers. “If they have a song that needs vocals or music put together, we try to help them out,” Allana says. “We can’t work too quickly with our trucking. We have to take the music on the road with us. When we get home we go to the studio.”

Allana’s album “Wantin’ to Go Home” has been played on the airwaves in the United States as well as in Belgium and the Netherlands. She is in the process of releasing a bluegrass album as well as an album of truck driver songs. “There are a lot of very talented truck drivers that are musicians,” she notes. “When I went to truck driving school they made the comment that if I could play a guitar, I could drive a truck. That’s true because it’s the rhythm of everything coming together.”

Adams found that cohesive rhythm when he began calling friends about the album for soldiers. “I had to turn a lot of people down because [the slots] filled up real fast,” he says. “There are a lot of truck drivers that write songs and poetry.”

It took Adams only a week or so to gather all the songs for the compilation. “The minute I called them they were mailing me albums,” he says. “Now I have a room with CDs lined up, all from truck drivers.”

Whatley’s “Tears of Pride,” the song that spurred the idea for the album, is one of the songs on the CD. Whatley, who’s been trucking since 1984, started playing the guitar at the age of 14. He was in his 20s when he began writing songs. Since then, he’s written more than 200 songs. He didn’t consider recording any of them until his friend Jimmy English, a record producer, invited him to Nashville, Tenn., to record an album. “I told him to give me a year and I would write some trucking songs,” Whatley recalls. “I wanted to have something for truck drivers that they could relate to.”

The recording session resulted in Whatley’s “American Trucker” album, which has received airplay on the “Open Road” show. The songs on the album range from the patriotic “Tears of Pride” to the funny “Get ’er Done.” “That song was inspired by Larry the Cable Guy,” said Whatley. “Some guys out here are pretty funny.”

One of his songs – he’s keeping mum as to which one – has drawn interest from a publishing company. He’s not sure what that will mean for his future. “I’m so busy with life now,” he says. “I’m just holding down my trucking job. I also have a ranch that takes a lot of time.”

Even though his guitar is his constant companion on the road, Whatley regrets that he’s not spending as much time on his music as he would like. “I love music,” he says. “I love to do it.”

David Paul “Honkey Tonker” Nowlin got involved with Adams’ venture because he wanted “to support the troops.” He started writing songs when he was 17, a year before he got his first truck driving job. He’s written the majority of his songs on the road. Out of the 35 songs that Nowlin has recorded, he chose “Medals on the Wall” to appear on Adams’ patriotic album. “It was inspired by my dad, who was a Korean War veteran,” he says.

Since he started writing songs, Nowlin has had the opportunity to perform at Douglas Corner Cafe, a legendary music venue, in Nashville. One of his songs, “NASCAR Junkie,” has had a lot of airplay on XM 171 as well as Nowlin’s local radio station in Ada, Okla. “I wrote that song the first time I went to a live NASCAR race,” he recalls. “I wrote it while I was in the stands.”

Like Whatley, Nowlin carries his guitar with him on the road. “I devote every spare minute to something musical,” he says. “I’ll play the guitar or try to write something.”

Greg “Smokehouse” Martin also balances his trucking career with his songwriting. His song “Grandma’s Bible” is the only song on the “America’s Truckers Salute American Soldiers” album that isn’t related to the military. Martin wrote the song for his grandmother. “She practiced what she preached,” he remembers. “She left me a roadmap in the Bible. She still speaks to me every time I turn the page.”

A 14-year truck driving veteran, Martin began playing the guitar when he was 10 years old. He wrote his first song in his early teens. “I got me a little tape recorder and I recorded it myself,” he says. Martin taught himself how to play the guitar, harmonica, mandolin, piano and keyboard so he could fill in the music on his recordings. His boyhood interest has grown into a home-based recording studio that has produced albums for two other artists in addition to himself, who has recorded close to 200 songs out of the 400 that he has written. Some of his songs are aired on XM 171.

“The majority of what I write is on the road,” he says. “I usually toss ideas in my head late at night while I’m driving.”

His music is influenced by the honest, gritty sounds of the blues. “The blues can make you feel good if you are feeling bad and bad if you are feeling good,” he says. “I have respect for the blues, its heart and soul. It has a unique technique that differs from standard music.”

In addition to providing a song for “America’s Truckers Salute American Soldiers,” Martin used his home studio to level the volume of each track on the album. “All of us feel blessed to have the opportunity to give back to the troops,” he affirms. “We want to let them know we support them.”

Along with the albums given to the Wounded Warriors at Fort Sam Houston, Adams gave 7,000 albums to the USO at Fort Hood, Texas. “They were able to hand the CDs to soldiers as they got on the plane to deploy,” he says. “The USO tells me the [soldiers] really did enjoy them. We’ve gotten a lot of appreciation out of it.”

Check out the following Web sites and listen to the music:

www.davidpaulnowlin.com

www.ourcrystalballpub.com

www.smokehousestudios.net

www.myspace.com/donwhatley

www.myspace.com/loosepencil

Sponsors for “America’s Truckers Salute American Soldiers” are: Bruce Oakley Inc., Production Transport, Mike Murphy, H&R Block of Fairfield, Texas, Mayo Foundation, M & CH Trucking Inc., Marten, M.C.P. Ministries International and Forward Air Inc.

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August 1st, 2009 | Category: Featured
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