Wade Bowen Takes Truck Songs to Task with “Trucks”
Possibly the most sinister part of pop country these days is how it can make the attentive music listener feel so disfranchised from the rest of society. The idiocy on display during a country radio segment is enough to fill one with self-doubt about the entire direction of humanity, especially these long-belabored laundry list songs coming from country’s top male performers. You listen, and say to yourself, “If I hear another song about trucks, I’m going to shoot myself.”
But the beautiful part about music is that as much as it can be the culprit for personal angst, it can also be the antidote.
Once again a member of the Texas music scene has delivered a song that gives voice and reason to how the rest of us feel. Wade Bowen’s “Trucks” aims its big, diamond-plated bumper at the incessant references to tailgates and four wheel drives in modern pop country songs and slams on the gas. At the same time, it practices what it preaches, making sure to instill some story and soul into the song along the way, instead of just being a vehicle for protest.
“Trucks,” just like another Texas country semi-protest song by Josh Abbott Band called “I’ll Sing About Mine” excels at doing what Texas country does best: balancing substance with sensibility. Country music has a long history of protest songs, but “Trucks” is an example of the new approach that doesn’t aim to evangelize to a choir, but to increase the fold.
Just like Abbott’s “I’ll Sing About Mine,” it was penned by others. “Trucks” is a songwriting collaboration between rising traditional country songwriter, performer, and general badass Brandy Clark, and big-time hitmaker Shane McAnally. Though Shane McAnally’s resume of hit pop country songs might draw the stink eye from some, and maybe even make them wonder if this song isn’t some reverse Nashville marketing in action, we also might be seeing a company man who is beginning to see the light. McAnally also co-wrote and produced much of Kacey Musgraves last album.
“Trucks” isn’t a sensational song, but it’s solid, and shows the type of leadership country needs to throw a tow rope around country’s trailer hitch, and try to haul it out of the dirt road ditch.
1 3/4 of 2 guns up.
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“Trucks” originally appeared on Rawhide & Velvet. (If you don’t see Soundcloud player, try clicking ‘refresh’.)
August 14, 2013 @ 8:47 am
Enjoyed the song
August 14, 2013 @ 9:05 am
Good move on not pissing off Rita Ballou by mentioning that she posted the song first!
August 14, 2013 @ 9:22 am
Nice one. Apparently I like the sub-genre of “don’t play this” country songs (Songs about Rain, Don’t Rock the Jukebox).
August 14, 2013 @ 9:27 am
Nice. I expected to not like this, but it’s actually a pretty good song. Well done Wade!
August 14, 2013 @ 9:33 am
I didn’t care you this song when Rita posted and I still don’t. Is it a cut above the faux-rustic tripe coming out of Music City? Yes. But is that the bar you want to step over?
I’ll still take Fred Eaglesmith’s “I Wanna Buy Your Truck” any day.
August 14, 2013 @ 10:05 am
Of course a song like Fred Eaglesmith’s “I Wanna By Your Truck” is a better song, but what do we think the chances are that will ever be played on mainstream radio? A cut above means better, and that’s all we can hope for.
August 14, 2013 @ 10:18 am
Brian Keane wrote and recorded “I’ll Sing About Mine” And Adam Hood also recorded it on his “The Shape of Things” album. Not being picky but it’s just my opinion that their versions are better.
August 14, 2013 @ 1:06 pm
I think when it comes to saving country music, we have to know where to draw a hard line, and where to be pragmatic. Sometimes it can be frustrating seeing a cool song be cut by a bigger artist (ie Darius Rucker & “Wagon Wheel”), but if these bigger names help draw more attention to songs of substance, I am going to take it as a good thing.
August 14, 2013 @ 11:01 am
Pretty cool! It reminds me of Gary Allan’s, “Songs About Rain”. Not only lyrically, but also melodically, and instrumentally, as well. ( I know, Gary’s song is about liking those songs, but you know what I mean)
August 14, 2013 @ 11:25 am
I like it very solid. Well done Wade.
August 14, 2013 @ 12:11 pm
Aw yeah, country radio could definitely use more songs like this. 😀 I’m not surprised to see a Brandy Clark songwriting credit, either — I like most of her stuff that I’ve heard so far. (Love her current single “Stripes” — “there’s no crime of passion worth a crime of fashion … I don’t look good in orange, and I hate stripes!”)
August 14, 2013 @ 12:22 pm
I love how the corporate country world and redneck stereotypes have taken what is essentially a tool used for work-related activities and made it into a “cornerstone” of southern culture. Of course there are plenty of people that like trucks just because they like trucks, but the majority seem to need them for some specific purpose, not just to show everyone else how “country” they are. You nailed it on the head with that first paragraph, Trigger. I can take the songs about beer and girls; by far, the truck songs are the ones that annoy me the most. In Justin Moore’s pile of crap otherwise known as “Bait a Hook,” he grills his opposition for “driving a Prius because he’s in to being green” and in Tyler Farr’s new song “Redneck Crazy,” he mentions that the other guy “can’t amount to much by the look of that little truck.” Seriously? THIS is what passes for some sort of insult to the ignorant? Well, looks like I’m not country since I drive a Corolla. Sorry, Justin. Sorry, Tyler. I’ll be sure to listen to your commentary on country life before I buy my next car.
August 14, 2013 @ 5:23 pm
it really is weird how now you can’t be “country” without driving a truck, and it has nothing to do with whether or not you need one..I’m living in LA right now, seems like half of the suburbs are filled with kids who just needed a truck to be cool..granted I bought my truck a year or two into college, in large part just because I wanted a truck..but now I actually need it for work…but if i didn’t, and I had the money, I’d definitely consider a hybrid..heck as it is, I’d love to have a hybrid pickup..
August 14, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
I couldn’t find lyrics, so I transcribed them. I thought others would like to read them.
Whatever happened to a feeling bad song
Lost the best damn woman that you ever had song
It’s all four wheel drives and jacked up tires
Rollin’ out of them speakers
But for a trip down memory lane tonight
I need something a little deeper
Than s10 Chevy’s or f150’s
Flatbed Dodge ram dirt road ditties
Headlights taillights Daddy’s Eldorado
Dashboards ditches or silver Silverados
Down by the lake or down by the river
Mud bank no thanks
I’m just gonna sit here and miss her
So mister here’s my 20 bucks
Don’t play no songs about trucks
Most nights I don’t really mind ’em
With the windows down Hell I might even rewind ’em
But since my heart got broke
I don’t wanna drive around
Just wanna let this heartache soak
Up a sadder sound
Than s10 Chevy’s or f150’s
Flatbed dodge ram dirt road ditties
Headlights taillights Daddy’s Eldorado
Dashboards ditches or silver Silverados
Down by the lake or down by the river
Mud bank no thanks
I’m just gonna sit here and miss her
So mister here’s my 20 bucks
Don’t play no songs about trucks
Or trailers or tailgates or tractors
I’m gettin’ drunk, but not in a pasture
This bar stool is right where I’ll stay stuck
Yeah have another beer
But I don’t wanna hear
No songs about trucks
No no no
No more songs about trucks
No no no no no
August 14, 2013 @ 5:49 pm
Thanks!
August 14, 2013 @ 5:43 pm
I almost flipped shit when I saw that Wade Bowen had a song about trucks, but I calmed down after the first line. This song may be subtle, but it hits it right on the head. I think Wade was the perfect person to sing it because its believable from him. He could easily be on the radio. He doesn’t have the traditional sound that most red dirt artists have. He actually sounds very radio friendly.The only difference is that his songs have substance. I have never heard a Wade Bowen song that mentions any of the basic clichés. Shane McAnally has definitely written some not that great songs, but he has also written some good ones. I don’t know of any trucks songs from him, so that’s a good thing. And Brandy Clark can do whatever she wants, because she just kicks ass.
August 15, 2013 @ 7:30 am
Pretty solid tune. Sounds a little polished for my tastes but Wade has a good voice and it’s well written.
August 15, 2013 @ 10:47 am
Jerry Jeff Walker’s Pickup Truck Song might be the last song worth a crap about a truck.
New Wade Bowen Music: “Trucks” | KOKE FM
August 15, 2013 @ 12:22 pm
[…] way either. Check out the glowing reviews of “Trucks” on two other popular music blogs, SavingCountryMusic.com and […]
August 20, 2013 @ 5:15 am
I know I’m gonna cause controversy who I compare Wade to but hear me out on why I say so. First off, I got introduced to this guy via a fellow fan of a radio show I’ve been listening to, first listen to this guy and the song that he did called “Trouble”, I went and bought his records via I tunes that very night. When his newest album “The Given” came out I did the same thing that I would do whenever a new Garth Brooks album came out I up and bought it. His past work along with the new one seriously has that Garth quality I’ve been missing and that’s why I seriously think he’s the best songwriter since Garth Brooks and I don’t say that lightly because I’ve a been GB fan since I was in diapers.
August 30, 2013 @ 9:47 am
I think there’s an interesting thing to be discussed about these kind of songs, and I’d really like to start that discussion.
Bowen released another song this year with WIll Hoge called “Another Song Nobody Will Hear” that hits on a similar theme: Singing about how they’re writing “another song nobody will hear” because all the songs populating popular country music are about “tractors, trucks, and beer”…
Here’s my question: Isn’t singing songs about songs about cliche country themes equally damning as just singing songs about cliche country themes?
Anyone?
September 13, 2014 @ 9:07 am
To ElectricOutcast: the only thing I find controversial about your comment is the fact that you seem to think Wade Bowen wrote the song we’re discussing (the one about trucks.) You refer to him being the best songwriter to come around in a long time. I hate to burst your bubble, but the songwriters are Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally. Just wanted you to know. You can still love the song and the artist and compare him to whomever you want to if it makes you happy. It makes no difference to me, but it bothers me when I see tons of praise heaped on the recording artists for their amazing lyrics or similar comments when I know it was really my lifelong friend who wrote the song. Someone else just sang it. And don’t get mad because I’m not downing on the recording artists, they deserve all the fame and awards they receive as well… Just not credit for amazing lyrics or music when they had jack squat to do with it 😉 for example, did you know? George Strait has never written a single one of the songs he’s ever recorded? True fact… Have a blessed day!
September 13, 2014 @ 10:00 am
did you know? George Strait has never written a single one of the songs he”™s ever recorded?
This is incorrect. Strait has written a fair chunk of the songs on his last three albums. Check the credits.