The Best Of Red Simpson: Country Western Truck Drivin' Singer

Truck-drivin' songs hold a narrow but proud niche in the mythology of country & western music. Red Simpson, a Bakersfield songwriting compadre of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, came into the game late, following the success of Dave Dudley and Del Reeves, and scored but one bona fide hit, 1971's dryly comic "I'm a Truck." But Simpson's work has held up better than most, thanks to his blue-collar voice and those twangin' Bakersfield Telecasters. This 20-track collection is taken from Simpson's mid-'60s and early '70s Capitol albums. Besides "I'm a Truck," highlights include the original version of "Highway Patrol" (memorably covered by Junior Brown on 1993's Guit with It) and a chugging version of "Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves." --Rick Mitchell