18. Cowboys songs from the country

After University I joined my families Road Tanker business, based in the north of Englard for 3 years., working with my brother We would transport valuable liquids in 20 tonne road tankers to all parts of Europe and back. At the time the song Convoy, was very popular. I set this country song in Houston, Texas to exploit the iconic USA view of life on the open road. I love road songs like ‘On the road again’ (Going places that I’ve never been) by Willy Nelson and ‘Six days on the road’ ( and I’m gonna make it home tonight ).

One thing is for sure, the men and women that drive trucks over long distances, where ever they are, are a breed apart. I joined drivers on various journeys to Spain and Italy and back and can honestly say I have never been so exhausted. The thought of having a day off and doing the same thing over and over again, week after week,  is beyond me. I’m just a pen pusher. Road hauliers make the world go round

There are 15million trucks in the USA and 3.5m professional truck drivers. Of this, about 2m are the iconic long-haul trucks. About 6% of all trucks are road tankers and there are 85,000 road tanker drivers. There are 400 companies hauling road tankers in the greater Houston area, that’s a lot ! This is due to the proximity of the oil and  chemical industry. 

Later in life, I worked on the oil industry for 20 years and spent a lot of time in Houston

It takes 5 days to drive a truck to Seatle, and 4 days to New York. To reach Montreal, Canada (mentioned in the song). it also takes  4 days, driving some 1800 miles. That is a long haul there and back, to then set off again the following week – mercy me looks like we got us a convoy !This a country road song ( with en edge) about a very special group of people, long haul road tanker truckers. The tile of the song ( Cowboy songs from the country) plays with the ide of country music, truckers and country songs on the radio to keep them sane ( and awake) – in the absence of whiskey ! The singer is a women, and the drivers are women ( about 8% of the total in the USA). The lyric video ( which took me forever to produce) just shows women. So, a special group within a special group. They are known as the ‘Queens of the open road’ . or as  the saying goes, ‘The sun don’t set on a bad ass’-as mentioned in the song. The song starts at dawn, the trucks are ‘Gassed up, tyres checked. Leaving Houston early. Ready for the journey. Goodbye to my baby'. The chorus comes in early, because the radio is already on playing ,’ Whiskey free, crazy hauling With cowboy songs from the country’ .I wonder if they were playing Willie Nelson ?

The journey starts, ‘Hitting the interstate. Freightliner trucks. Pulling their weight. Man , the traffic sucks. Ugly cars everywhere. Stay away from those guys. Miles of metal monsters. Gotta be, crazy badass’ Then one of the tanks spills over ( that happened to me once in France ) and they get a visit from a state trooper oh no ! The girls then ‘drive until they drop, to Arizona, Idaho, Montana. Wherever they don’t care. It’s a hard life to compare’

Finally tired, ‘heading back to town. Summer heat is breathless. Step on it, till sundown. It’s a long way back to Texas’ .I’ve been in Houston in July and its bloody hot.

One last chorus celebrating the trip, ‘Whiskey free, crazy hauling. With cowboy songs from the country’, before thinking about the next one. I tried to inject real pace into this song , as if you were in the truck. I really enjoyed making this song. Let’s hear it for the girls !