‘This song is for y’all’
A trip to 2022’s Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., inspired a song dedicated to the nation’s truck drivers.
Country singer Makenzie Phipps released “Eighteen Wheels” earlier this year and already has received thousands of views on YouTube.
“This song is for y’all,” Phipps said in a recent interview with Land Line Now’s Ashley Blackford . “This is your song in honor of all of your hard work and dedication.”
Written by Phipps’ backup singer and guitarist, Shane Begley, “Eighteen Wheels” is the emotional tale of a daughter thinking about all of the sacrifices her deceased father made by spending a large chunk of his life on the road.
“The story is of a little girl, and she’s reminiscing about her father, who was a truck driver,” Phipps said. “He’s passed away, and she’s looking back on all the times he sacrificed so much to provide for his family.”
When I’d hear the truck roll in
I knew it was my best friend
It was a life he lived on eighteen wheels
Phipps’ father is not a truck driver, but she could relate to the story through her uncles.
“My uncles were always on the road all the time to be able to provide for their family,” Phipps said. “(They were) out countless days, months out of the year just to provide for not only their family but everyone out there who relies on them for supplies. So it definitely was very emotional to me, because I related to it in that sense.”
Sometimes I sit in his old seat
And I think of all the memories
I can still hear the diesel engine shifting gears
“I always try to put myself into the story,” Phipps said. “In this instance, I kind of put myself into that little girl and I tried to think of if my own father was a trucker and being away. I know there are so many people out there who do have family members and friends who are away for long times, and they miss them so much. They really don’t get to see them, and they have to talk to them at sporadic times of the day. So when I went into the studio, I just put myself in there. I really listened to the words, and I wanted it to come out like it was my story. Like I was that little girl, and my dad was on the road all of the time.”
Phipps said the song has received a positive response from the trucking community, and she encourages everyone to share the tune with a truck driver.
The country singer, who grew up in Virginia, moved to Nashville, Tenn., about a year ago and has concerts scheduled throughout the South for the rest of 2024. You can learn more about her music at MakenziePhipps.com. LL