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Dave Dudley (born as Darwin David Pedruska or
Pudraska, May 3 1928 - December 22 2003) was an
USA|American country music|country singer, best
known for his songs about the lives of truck
drivers.

Dudley was born on May 3 1928 in Spencer,
Wisconsin, USA and grew up in Stevens Point,
Wisconsin; following an arm injury in 1950 that
ruined a baseball career, Dudley started to
perform country music, forming the Dave Dudley
Trio in 1953 after successful broadcasts in Idaho,
a band which stayed together for seven years.

In 1960, Dudley moved to Minnesota and formed the
Country Gentlemen; he suffered a car accident and
spent several months in hospital, but his career
started to take off with songs like "Maybe I do"
and "Under the Cover of Night". He founded his own
label, Golden Wing Label|Golden Wing, in 1963, and
released the up-tempo song "Six Days on the Road",
originally recorded in 1961 to please a friend,
which made him a superstar over night. 
"Six Days on the Road" did, in fact, spawn an
entire new subgenre within country music, telling
tales of the lives of truckers and depicting them
as hard-working, hard-living men.

Dudley's later successes included "Truck Drivin'
Son-of-a-Gun", "Two Six Packs Away", "There Ain't
No Easy Run", "One More Mile", "The Original
Travelling Man", "Trucker's Prayer" and "Truck
Driver's Waltz", many of which were written by or
together with Tom T. Hall.

In 1970, Dudley's "The Pool Shark" became a number
one country hit; he also recorded a duet with Tom
T. Hall, "Day drinkin'", and had
some success with "Rolaids, Doan's pills and
Preparation H" in 1980, which he recorded for Sun
Records. 

In total, Dudley recorded more than 70 albums. 
However, he did not manage to reclaim his past
success, and neither his single "Where's that
Truck?", recorded with DJ Charlie Douglas, nor the
track "Dave Dudley, American Trucker", recorded in
2002 in the wake of the September 11, 2001
Terrorist Attacks, helped revive his career.

Dudley died on December 22 2003 after suffering a
myocardial infarction|heart attack.

== External links ==
*
http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1483873/20031223/
dudley_dave.jhtml?headlines=true CMT.com: "Six
Days on the Road" Singer Dave Dudley Dead at 75