Dave Dudley

Dave Dudley (May 3, 1928 – December 22, 2003) was an American country music singer best known for his truck-driving country anthems of the 1960s and 1970s and his somewhat-slurred bass. His signature song was "Six Days on the Road", and he is also remembered for "Vietnam Blues", "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun", and "Me and Ol' C.B.". His other recordings include a duet with Tom T. Hall, "Day Drinking", and his own top-10 hit, "Fireball Rolled a Seven", supposedly based on the career and death of Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts.

Born in Spencer, Wisconsin, United States, Dudley's grandparents came from Königsberg in East Prussia, Germany. His father, then a local tavern owner, gave Dudley his first guitar at the age of 11.

Baseball was his first love and in high school he was a standout pitcher. In 1942, the New York Yankees obtained his option. At the time, he was serving in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific, having convinced his mother to sign his enlistment papers when he was 17. She also signed the baseball option on his behalf. After his military service, his contract was transferred to the Chicago White Sox organization, In April 1948, the White Sox assigned him to their Wisconsin Rapids affiliate for spring training in Hot Springs, Arkansas and was later transferred him to the Gainesville Owls of the Big State League in Texas. After an arm injury abruptly ended his baseball career, he dropped by WTMT in Wausau, Wisconsin and began hosting his, "Texas Stranger Show.", playing Country Western music while also performing on air.

In early 1951, Dudley began performing in taverns across northeastern Wisconsin, usually as part of a trio that worked under a variety of names and lineups. They were billed at different times as Dave Dudley and His Rodeo Riders and Dave Dudley and His Country Caravan before eventually settling on The Dave Dudley Trio.

That May, the group began an 18-week residency at The Flame in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they performed mostly country-western songs alongside a few numbers from the Hawaiian songbook each night.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.