Album Review – Big City Brian Wright’s “Sky Trucker”

#510.9 (Truck Driver Country) and #510 (Traditional Country) on the Country DDS.

Call it gimmicky if you want. But if you want to get on the right side of traditional country fans and quickly, start crooning out a bunch of country trucker songs, and you’ll immediately make some fast friends. Country traditionalist Big City Brian Wright wasn’t the first to figure this out, and he certainly won’t be the last. But he is the first to take the concept of a country trucker album, and make it fly.

Why are airborne long haulers any different than their land bound counterparts? According to Brian Wright, they aren’t. Sailors and ship captains have all kinds of shanties about them too. So why not airmen and pilots? Sky Trucker is a super fun concept that mixes smart originals with cover songs, and since it’s Big City Brian Wright, you know it’s country. It was also a way for Brian to bridge his two passions of flying and country music.

There’s no desire to be rich or famous here, so you might as well have a little fun. Brian Wright made this album for himself, and hopes maybe a few other folks will want to listen too. That’s why he covers old trucker classics like “East Bound and Down” and JJ Cale’s “Call Me The Breeze.” He also envisions the old Dire Strait song “So Far Away” as an air trucker tune, and pulls it off, as well as Radney Foster’s “Angel Flight” about piloting a C-130, and bringing home some of the bravest souls who sacrificed it all.

But it’s Brian Wright’s original songs where he really explores the Sky Trucker concept, and where it takes flight. “Contrails” smartly weaves a story of heartbreak and leaving with the streaks certain planes leave in clear skies. “Midnight Hauler” is just one of those killer country trucker songs that gives you a heavy right foot.

The reason country trucker songs are so captivating is they capture the feeling of movement, and the sense of freedom that confers. They’re always going and coming back. Few songs capture this better than “Freedom to Stay,” recorded by Waylon Jennings, and written by Willis Hoover. Again, it wasn’t written to be a sky trucker song like Merle Haggard’s “Silver Wings” that also makes an appearance. But Big City Brian Wright makes the song into one.

There is a little bit of a dad rock vibe to this album, though for some, this is what they’ll love about it. Some will also scoff at the amount of covers, but conceptualizing those covers is what makes this album cool. Big City Brian Wright definitely crafted an interesting concept here, and then executed it perfectly when it comes to production and instrumentation in the traditional country sound. Though he doesn’t like to promote it, Brian Wright is actually related to Alan Jackson, which makes sense when you listen.

Not sure if we need to open a new entry on the ol’ country music Dewey Decimal System for the wave of sky trucker albums we’ll have to catalog in the future. But any fans of country trucker songs and classic country in general are sure to get a kick out of this one.

1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)

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