#37: Truck Stop by Jerry Smith

City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: August 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #71
YouTube: “Truck Stop”

Jerry Dean Smith was born in Bude, Mississippi, in 1933. His family moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when he was an adolescent. He served in the Air Force, loaned to the Army where he would serve as one of the Transcribers at the Korean War Armistice Agreement. After his service, he returned home to Baton Rouge, marry and begin to pursue his music career. Moving to Nashville in 1961, he quickly established himself as a session musician and became one of a group of session musicians coined as “Nashville’s Perfect Six”. He was a member of the Nashville Musicians Union for 59 years.

Jerry Smith with the US Air Force during Korean War

Jerry Smith with some members of Nashville’s Perfect Six

In 1961, Jerry Smith teamed up with Bill Justis as a duo that went by the name of Cornbread and Jerry. They released a single titled “Lil’ Ole Me”. It was a ragtime influenced composition by Jerry Smith. Ragtime originated in the African-American community and was most popular from the mid-1890’s to the end of World War One. A prime example of this music was Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag“. The defining characteristic of ragtime music is an its use of syncopation in which melodic accents occur between metrical beats. This created a melody that seemed to be avoiding some metrical beats of the accompaniment by emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat. The intended effect on the listener was actually to accentuate the beat, luring them to move or dance to the music, as in James Scott’s 1904 tune “On The Pike“. Ragtime had an influence on classical composers in Europe. An example of this is Claude Debussey’s “Golliwog’s Cakewalk” from Children’s Corner, written in 1908. “Lil’ Ole Me” also resembled some of the pieces written by Floyd Cramer, like “On The Rebound”, which also featured a syncopated melody.

Jerry Smith at the piano in a recording session

Jerry Smith played the piano for a hit in 1963 by the Dixiebelles called “Down At Papa Joe’s”. He also wrote the lyrics for the 1963 hit, “Killer Joe”, for The Rocky Fellers. Smith later had a minor hit called “Truck Stop” in 1969.

The ragtime piano style is the feature of this instrumental written by Jerry Smith.

“Truck Stop” peaked at #3 in Reading (PA), #4 in Fredericton (NB), #5 in Fresno (CA), #7 in Los Angeles, and #11 in Windsor (ON).

Late in 1969, his next single release, “Sweet ‘N’ Sassy” was also from his album Truck Stop. It was a Top 40 Adult Contemporary hit and a minor hit on the Hot Country Singles chart. In November 1969, Smith released “Papa Joe’s Thing” credited to Papa Joe’s Music Box. It also cracked the Top 40 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Over the decades, Jerry Smith was a session musician contributing piano or compositions on numerous recordings for hit makers like Floyd Cramer, Loretta Lynn, Porter Wagoner, Red Sovine, Jerry Reed, Charlie Pride, Willie Nelson, Skeeter Davis, Jeanne Pruett, Ferlin Husky, Wanda Jackson and Chet Atkins.

With the release of “Truck Stop” Jerry Smith appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, and had appearances on American Bandstand and the Lawrence Welk Show. “Truck Stop” was awarded “Instrumental of the Year”. In 1971, Jerry Smith was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental Country Performance category for the album Drivin’ Home, Steppin’ Out. “Drivin’ Home” was released as a single and stalled at #125 beneath the Billboard Hot 100. While another track from the album, “Steppin’ Out”, became a minor country music hit.

In 1972 Smith released the album The Touch of Love. This was followed in 1973 with The New Sound of Jerry Smith and his Pianos, and in 1974, Ragtime. Jerry Smith’s sixth and final album release was in 1975 with Hymns To Live By. 

An obituary notes “After retiring, he took up sailing and would go on to sail around the world with his wife in their sailboat, taking five years and covering 30,000+ miles, gathering memories and stories to share. A quiet man of few words, he loved the ocean, the people he met along the way and never stopped wanting to return to sailing.” When he died in June 2021, Jerry Smith was 87 years of age.

September 27, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Jerry Dean Smith,” Forest Lawn Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, June 21, 2021.
“Jerry Smith’s Top Songs,” MusicVF.com.
Michael Verity, What is Ragtime?, Thought Co.com, July 4, 2017.
Golliwog’s Cakewalk, Aussie Musician Blogspot.co, June 26, 2009.

CFNB 550-AM Fredericton (NB) Top Twenty | August 9, 1969