Why is country music stereotypically synonymous with trucking?

Much to my surprise, they had some 80s channels playing at the Loves in Hutchinson KS when I was making some back to back milk tanker runs to there the past, few days. Sounded delightful, I know I loved it. Of course one "music to ears" will be "piercing noise" to others.

And I am totally aware of the shift. Of course I started driving in 2004 when that trend was already firmly implanted. Only reason I know anything of truck-stops being for truckers was the numerous ones I saw as toddler when my dad had to move from state to state every year in the late 80s chasing jobs until finally finding one in CA(he later told me he got an offer in Phoenix too, but I guess he got bit by whatever the CA vibe was back in the 80s. WISH HE CHOSE PHOENIX INSTEAD). I definitely remember that one in Hesperia across from the current Pilot. The aroma of BBQ wafting from it was to die for.

Another weird thing that I feel sets me apart from many of these "newer" drivers I encounter today is again, the training standards. 2004, I was again just freshly 21. But still had the chance to be taught by many of the grizzled, old hands that had been clearly driving since the late 60s. The lessons they taught and the stories they passed along. Now it's just kids teaching kids in most places. People that possibly got their licenses back at the crack of the 2010s and are now hopping into the training bandwagon.

I reckon if I decided for some strange reason to train at a reputed school, I'd emulate the same people that trained me. The students would probably be both scared and baffled by the whole appearance.

 

Many smooth jazz stations have been firmly entrenched in different spots for years. Then you get people calling in a complaining about the format and then changing it altogether. I'm sitting here like: "If you didn't like listening to the smooth rolling sounds of Walter Beasley, David Sanborn, Gerald Albright, or Candy Dulfer, why did you keep the dial locked, you bonehead?"

Probably so used to their pop-rap/pop-punk station from their larger city on the same dial that they never changed it. Weird thing about most jazz stations I listened to early in life, they were usually on those lower, "88.something or other" that are normally populated by FM-Talk or religious stations. How these pop-music lovers migrated that far down the frequencies and explored is something of a mystery to me.

 

Marketing ploy I guess. I mean, it was only as of the early 2000s we started getting actual rappers from rural areas of Kentucky and other parts of that region that pulled off their own version of hip hop infused with lyrics representing rural life. Bubba Sparxx and Nappy Roots, along with that Anthony Hamilton were probably some of the more notable modern rappers/RnB crooners from the mountainous south that kept things hip-hop/RnB without going full-blown, cringe tractor rap.