When you think of songs about truck driving the names that usually come to mind are Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Jerry Reed, and C. W. McCall. When you think of the Bakersfield Sound Buck Owens and Merle Haggard immediately come to mind. Yet there is one man that is just as important to these subgenres of country music and his name is Red Simpson.
Joe (or Joseph) Cecil Simpson, nicknamed 'Red' for his red hair, was born in Higley, Maricopa, Arizona March 6, 1934 to John T. and Lillie Simpson. Per the 1930 census for Caney, Atoka, Oklahoma Red's father was born in Oklahoma and his mother in Texas. The family were Dust Bowl migrants. After leaving Oklahoma they stopped in Arizona where they stayed for eight years. When Simpson was just a toddler the family left Arizona for California. They arrived in Bakersfield in 1937.
At age 18 Simpson joined the Navy and was shipped out to Korea. He mustered out in 1955. Once out of the service he obtained his first professional job performing at the Wagon Wheel Club in Lamont, California. From there he went to Fuzzy Owen's Clover Club to play piano. He also worked weekends at Bakersfield's Blackboard Club where he filled in for Buck Owens.
Red wasn't just a performer, he was also a songwriter. Sometime in the 1960's he signed with Cliffie Stone's publishing company as a songwriter. Shortly afterwards he began co-writing with Owens. In 1967 Owens recorded their song “Sam's Place” which topped the charts. Other songs co-written with Owens include “Blue Christmas Lights”, “Christmas Time's A-Comin'”, “Close Up the Honky Tonks”, and “You Don't Have Very Far to Go”. With Steve Stone he co-wrote “I Bought the Shoes That Just Walked Out On Me”. With Don Rich he co-wrote “A Devil like Me (Needs an Angel Like You)”.
Capitol Records producer Ken Nelson requested Merle Haggard record some songs on the subject of truck driving. Haggard said “no” and Nelson then tossed the opportunity to Simpson. This was the beginning of his writing and singing about driving a big rig. His first single, “Roll, Truck, Roll” came out in 1966 and peaked on the charts at #38. He would never hit the top 5 until 1971 when he recorded “I'm a Truck”. All totaled he only ever charted eight singles, the last one was in 1979 entitled “The Flying Saucer Man and the Truck Driver”. At this point in his life Simpson chose to stick with songwriting. However, in 1995 he went back into the studio where he recorded two duets with Junior Brown: “Semi Crazy” and “Nitro Express”.
He played multiple instruments: guitar, keyboard, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and pedal steel. He was also known as 'The Bard of Bakersfield'.
Simpson died March 6, 2016 in Bakersfield, California at age 81 due to complications after a heart attack. On his Facebook page Haggard acknowledged Simpson's part in developing the Bakersfield Sound and said Simpson was a 'dear friend of over 50 years'. He said Simpson was one of the original musicians on 'Okie from Muskogee'.
About the country music subgenre's Simpson had a hand in:
Trucking songs have nothing to do with pick-ups (such as Joe Diffie's “Pickup Man”) or road songs (such as Roger Miller's “King of the Road”). Trucking songs refer to commercial trucks like 18-wheelers (a. k. a. big rigs, semis, and tractor-trailers) bobtails, reefers, flatbeds, livestock haulers, log carriers, tankers that carry either fuel or milk, and others. These songs are about truck stops, cute waitresses, dodging the highway patrol (a.k.a. bears), loneliness of the road, the weather, getting home and other events and issues that involve driving a big rig.
The Bakersfield Sound came about in the mid-to-late 1950's in and around Bakersfield, California. The genre was influenced by rock and roll and was the first to rely on instruments that were electric. There was also a defined backbeat. This genre came about in opposition to the Nashville Sound with it's orchestra laden music. The Bakersfield sound also initiated a come back of honky-tonk music. Later the Bakersfield sound would influence country rock and outlaw music.
A clip from the 2016 Ameripolitan Awards show. Posthumously Simpson was given the 'Founder of the Sound' award. Following this will be a list of my sources plus two of Simpson's trucking songs.
My sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Simpson#cite_note-9
- https://www.bakersfield.com/archives/bakersfield-sound-pioneer-red-simpson-dies-at-81/article_028bf998-13c6-5719-9a74-059af68d5c42.html
- http://www.cmt.com/news/1761648/red-simpson-pioneer-of-bakersfield-sound-dead-at-81/
- https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-red-simpson-20160114-story.html
- https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/40232/works
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