Road Hammers

You have to admire anyone who’s a fan of the great tradition of truck driving songs. A definite lost art, it’s amazing to think that the original kings of the genre, Red Sovine, Dave Dudley, and Red Simpson were once among the most popular artists in country music. While the Road Hammers, fronted by Canadian country star Jason McCoy, appear on the surface to have more in common with Kid Rock, they at least pay their respects to some of the great trucking anthems, like the immortal "Girl on the Billboard,” and Lowell George’s "Willin’.” In terms of their original tunes, the emphasis is clearly on heavy-handed Southern rock, and throwing as many trucking clichés into the lyrics as humanly possible. While this is all done with the utmost sincerity, it doesn’t quite live up to the classic artists simply because it’s hard to imagine that any of the Road Hammers have ever actually been behind the wheel of a big rig. Of course, that shouldn’t matter, but it’s a large part of why this album is merely a novelty, and not the complete tribute to truck songs that it should have been.