Narrow Places And Wide Open Spaces

Rising country star Lindsay Lawler plays various venues to reach her trucking industry fans

Every country music artist worth their salt comes to Nashville and plays at cafes and honky tonks hoping to be discovered. Over the years, places like The Bluebird Café, The Broken Spoke and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge have offered up-and-coming singers and songwriters a place to hone their craft while dreaming of playing on bigger stages.

Such was the case three years ago with Lindsay Lawler, who after fronting a rock band in Los Angeles, decided to be true to her country roots and moved to the Music City. An exceptionally strong live performer, Lawler soon landed a two-year resident gig at Tootsie’s, the same place where Willie Nelson got his first song writing job after singing to famous early customers like Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Patsy Cline, Mel Tillis, and Roger Miller.

Tootsie’s, which recently celebrated its 50-year anniversary and has been voted the #1 honky-tonk in the world, is where I first saw Lawler perform soon after she had just completed her debut solo album, Train Wreck. Lindsay had also just recorded her Highway Angel song for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and formed a partnership with the trucking industry that would have her appearing at conventions and events across the country.

“The thing I love most about what I am blessed to do for a living is that you never know where you’re going to end up and every day is something new and special,” Lawler said. “Trucking has expanded my unique performances to a whole different level, getting to meet some of the most genuine, loyal, hard-working people that any industry has to offer.” A few weeks ago, Lawler may have hit the trifecta for the most unique venues ever performed by an artist in any musical genre. In a span of five days in June, she performed inside the world’s only tractor-trailer limousine, on the back of a flatbed trailer and in a downtown alley.

The limousine performance was in Las Vegas aboard The Midnight Rider, a “night club on wheels” which was recently placed in the Guinness Book of World’s Records. Representative of the luxury days of railroad travel, the interior of this one-of-a-kind vehicle is modeled after former President Ulysses S. Grant’s Pullman railroad car from the 1870s, and features a bar, three other lounges plus a professional sound system. Accompanying Lawler for this performance was Skip Courtney, who played keyboards/harmonica, and her producer (and Warner Chapel songwriter) Chris Roberts on guitar. Not long after boarding the limo, Roberts turned to Lindsay and said, “How in the world did we get here?”

You have to picture the scene:

The trio and their gear are positioned on playpen couches in the Fifth Wheel Lounge section in the front of the limo, facing a group of trucking industry professionals at the bar and in the overlook and rear lounges. Soon, the limousine is driving down the Las Vegas Strip. The windows are partially open, tourists are watching and cameras begin flashing as Lawler, Roberts and Courtney are making great music – and providing their own percussion while banging on the walls of the Midnight Rider. “It was a totally random, totally unique, and totally special “music moment” which I will not soon forget,” Lawler said.

Two days later, from the convention floor at the Great West Truck Show, Lawler, Roberts and Courtney set up shop on a flatbed trailer and wailed away, adding a whole new group of supporters and friends to her growing support team. Then they jetted back to Nashville to join Lawler’s full band and setup a Randall-Reilly Publishing-sponsored stage for CMA Fest in an old alley downtown that is used for many movie, video and TV shoots. And what do you think was used as a backdrop?  A brand-new big rig provided by Western Express, a Nashville-based fleet, of course!

This shiny, white truck sported a Lindsay Lawler banner across the windshield, and the brick walls of the alley were lined with a banner featuring Lindsay’s “Come Along For the Ride” slogan. After this free concert for trucking fans and passers-by in town for CMA Fest, they retreated to The Music Loft, an exclusive VIP music venue overlooking Second Avenue downtown, to continue making music in a more stripped-down format to close out CMA Fest with a bang.

Lawler says it just never gets old doing what she does, and she sees that as the biggest blessing of her life. “Having the privilege of making music for this amazing industry has become such a huge passion of mine, and I’m thrilled and charged every day to come up with new ways to promote the positive image of trucking through my music,” Lawler stated. “I am totally committed to take the “good trucking word” outside of the industry by highlighting these every-day unsung heroes.”

This writer has now seen Lawler perform in honky-tonks, football stadiums, private parties and the three venues mentioned above – and as much as I love it when she brings down the house, I am equally as impressed by Lawler’s ability to lift your spirits up.
I had that experience sitting in the Fikes Truck Line booth at the Great West Truck Show in Las Vegas, where she previewed a new song called “THE WAY HE LOVES THE ROAD” for Fikes President and current TCA Chairman Gary Salisbury.

A duet with Roberts, the song goes back and forth from the male and female perspective of your significant other being out on the road, away from home for a good portion of their life. And the gist is that, in this case the man, loves his wife very much, but has to deal with the fact that no woman will ever live up to his love of the open road, freedom and all that it stands for. And the woman, in this case who is the one who has to stay behind, has to decide if she is strong enough to handle this lifestyle, missing her husband everyday and knowing he loves her, but he’s truly at home when he’s on the road.
It was truly a beautiful performance, and a “tear-jerker” of a song that will resonate with drivers; but it also can hit home with any couple where one is gone for work, or potentially even war.

Here is an excerpt of the lyrics:

THE WAY HE LOVES THE ROAD

(Written by Lindsay Lawler and Chris Roberts):

Can’t wait to see his face,
Seems like such a long time
Tired of counting the days,
and cold lonely nights
I know that he works hard,
but he’s hardly ever here
He says he’s doing it for us,
But sometimes that’s not enough

Sometimes I wish
that someone didn’t have to stay behind
And that leaving wasn’t always on his mind
And I wish to God
that he loved coming home
The way the he loves the road

She’s a real good woman,
I hate to see her cry
And I’d love to stand beside her,
guess I’m better at goodbye
Cause the wheels keep on turnin,
And freedom calls my name
I know that things get tough,
but I’m doing it for us

Sometimes I wish that someone
didn’t have to stay behind
That leaving wasn’t always on my mind
And I wish to God
that I loved coming home
The way that I love the road

If you are ever fortunate enough to hear Lindsay Lawler sing this or any of her other songs “live”, you’ll understand why she is an easy choice to be named this month’s Pro Trucker Pro Performer. In the meantime, you can check out her music at www.lindsaylawler.com