I started out in the transportation industry in 1976, driving a truck at age 20. I drove a lumberyard delivery truck in Sarasota, Florida. I was born and raised in a small town in northern New York called Indian Lake. After graduating high school, I moved south. Then I met my wife Katie. We have been together for 36 years and have four children and now six grandchildren.
I later moved back to New York in 1980. I bought my first truck, a GMC straight truck, and hauled logs and pulpwood. The logging industry was always a big part of my business. One winter I put more than 1000 miles on my tire chains.
In 1996 I started hauling dry van freight through all New England states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and sometimes further south and into the mid west. I owned a number of different tractors over the years. My last one was a 1997 Western Star that I pulled logs with and also wood chip vans, flatbed, and loads of lumber. I will always have a love for the trucking industry.
I got my first guitar when I was fourteen. I traded a friend five dollars and a pocket watch for it. The guitar I play in my most recent song “Let the Big Wheels Roll”, I bought for an incredible $48 at a pawnshop in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I didn't go in to buy a guitar but I saw this one hanging in the end of the rack looking like it had received some rough treatment. Something told me I should try it out and when I did, it sounded amazing. I left the pawnshop elated with my new guitar.
Although music has always been a passion of mine I didn't start writing songs until recent years. Today I had five songs recorded and copyrighted and am working on a couple more. My songs probably wouldn't have gotten any further than my six string and me if it weren’t for my nephew Jon and his wife Linda who took an interest in it. Their skill as musicians took my music to a new level. Big Wheels was recorded in Jon and Linda's living room.
I have long thought truckers don't receive the respect and appreciation they should. The vital services we perform are often a difficult and thankless job. I wanted to write a song that would help people to see us in a more positive light. When you hear "Big wheels” you’ll know it was written by one of your own.
I hope you enjoy listening! Let the Big Wheels Roll!
