Terry Fell

Musician · 1921–2007 · Dora, Alabama
Best known for Songwriter

Terry Fell was an Alabama-born country singer and songwriter whose 1954 self-cut B-side “Truck Driving Man” became the founding song of the trucker-country subgenre, later recorded by Ernest Tubb, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and a long line of country and bluegrass acts. The A-side, “Don’t Drop It,” reached the country Top 5 that year.

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  • Born May 13, 1921, in Dora, Alabama; got his first guitar at nine and added mandolin in his early teens.
  • Father died when Fell was thirteen; he moved alone to California three years later and spent time in a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.
  • Played bass for Merl Lindsay starting in 1943.
  • Joined Billy Hughes’s Pals of the Pecos in 1945 and made his first recordings as a member of the group.
  • Recorded as a solo artist for Memo, Courtney, 4 Star, and Gilt-Edge before signing with RCA Victor.
  • RCA released “Don’t Drop It” backed with “Truck Driving Man” in 1954; the A-side reached No. 4 country and the B-side became one of the most-covered trucker songs of the century.
  • Served in the U.S. Army from 1959; was stationed in West Germany at the same time as Elvis Presley.
  • Died April 4, 2007.

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