PATSY YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2)
By:
July 6, 2026
One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, analyzing and celebrating our favorite… Country Music of the Fifties (1954–1963)! Series edited by Josh Glenn. Qobuz playlist here.
DAVE DUDLEY | SIX DAYS ON THE ROAD | 1963
Cue the Beatles classic: Six days a week, he loves her. That is Dave Dudley and his truck. One day a week he loves his wife — I mean, physically and in person — he loves his wife. I am sure he loves her in spiritual and commensurate ways eight days a week. It is maybe not so strange to think of it as a kind of dual marriage — polygamy they call it. Man and machine and the vagaries of romance.
Sure, his rig’s a little old. Is that going to be a problem for you? What chauvinism is this? Did you think it was going to crap out? This creature of habit, ten million tire-blown, head-stoved miles traveled, reliable as a metronome. Dave Dudley’s a friendly guy, as far as it goes, but when you’re running down that old rig of his, you’re walking on his fighting side, hoss. That’s how “Six Days on the Road,” that most joyous of homecoming honky tonks ends off on a slightly defensive note.
But, basically, it’s a no-weigh-station joyride. I am sure I am the first to refer to Dave Dudley’s “Six Days on the Road” as the “Subterranean Homesick Blues” of trucking songs, and if I am wrong the world is an even more daunting place than I had previously realized. “Six Days on the Road” came out a year previous to that classic-Dylan rant and shared both his sense of wry irony and tendency towards tightly packed lyrical jokes, winking phrases and repeated lyrical motifs. It’s what my friend Chuck Prophet refers to as a “spokes on a wheel song.” It lasts two minutes and twelve seconds, and you feel rearranged.
The major revelation of Dudley’s endless, no-detail-spared patter is that he’s not the kind that strays. Specifically, the lyric goes:
I could have a lotta women, but I’m a-not a-like a-some of the guys
Other truckers, I’m guessing.
I could find one to hold me tight
But I could never make believe it’s all right
Coming up so casually as it does as a not-required admission of abiding love and fidelity, I can’t tell you how touching I find it. Of course, “Six Days’” wasn’t written by Dudley, but rather Earl Green and Muscle Shoals titan Carl Montgomery. But Dudley was the vehicle — he sold the thing — you cannot imagine any better carnival barker. And you must understand by the rule of law, he was living outside the law. This is beyond debate.
I’m a little overweight
And my logbook’s way behind
I see my hometown coming in sight
If you think I’m happy
You’re right
Maybe a little too old but moving fast as ever. One way or another, that’s the way that Dave Dudley got home.
PATSY YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn. Nadine Hubbs on Marty Robbins’ EL PASO | Elizabeth Nelson on Dave Dudley’s SIX DAYS ON THE ROAD | Lynn Peril on Jean Chapel’s WELCOME TO THE CLUB | David Cantwell on Porter Wagoner’s MY BONFIRE | Will Hermes on Johnny Cash’s RING OF FIRE | Mimi Lipson on Loretta Lynn’s I’M A HONKY TONK GIRL | Charles Hughes on Roger Miller’s YOU DON’T WANT MY LOVE | Eric Weisbard on Lefty Frizzell’s THE LONG BLACK VEIL | Steacy Easton on Jean Shepard’s A SATISIFIED MIND | Josh Glenn on Johnny Cash’s THE REBEL — JOHNNY YUMA | Carlo Rotella on Buck Owens’ CLOSE UP THE HONKY TONKS | Annie Nocenti on Patsy Cline’s THREE CIGARETTES IN AN ASHTRAY | Douglas Wolk on Lucky Starr’s I’VE BEEN EVERYWHERE | Will Groff on Ray Price’s NIGHT LIFE | Jonny Auping on Willie Nelson’s CRAZY | Brian Berger on Ernest Tubb’s THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS | Jason Grote on Bill Browning and His Echo Valley Boys’ DARK HOLLOW | Peter Doyle on Willie Nelson’s FUNNY HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY | Sam Glenn on Johnny Cash’s BIG RIVER | Annie Zaleski on Patsy Cline’s WALKIN’ AFTER MIDNIGHT | Adam McGovern on Elvis Presley’s BLACK STAR / FLAMING STAR | Chris Spurgeon on Ricky Nelson’s BELIEVE WHAT YOU SAY | Stephen Thomas Erlewine on George Jones’ WHITE LIGHTNING | TBD on TBD | Mark Richardson on Elvis Presley’s BLUE MOON.
ALSO SEE: DOLLY YOUR ENTHUSIASM (25 of our favorite Country records from 1964–1973) | & more Country at HILOBROW, including short appreciations of Gene Pitney, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Buck Owens, George Jones, June Carter Cash, Charley Pride, and many others.
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