Terry Fell

Terry Fell remains a minor name in the annals of country music, remembered chiefly for the lone major success he enjoyed with the 1954 release “Truck Driving Man.” That single nevertheless launched an entire subgenre of truck-driving narratives that continues to supply a substantial share of country lyrics. He also became the earliest industry figure to recognize the talent of a teenage Buck Owens, placing the guitarist under a management contract and employing him on his own recording dates.

Fell entered the studio for the first time around 1945, appearing as a vocalist with Billy Hughes’s ensemble on Fargo Records. Following that solitary Fargo outing he moved to Courtney and then 4-Star, where the volume of sales generated by his 4-Star sides secured him a contract with RCA Victor’s newly launched “X” imprint in 1954. During his initial session for the label, held in Hollywood, he cut the two-sided hit coupling “Don’t Drop It” with the now-classic “Truck Drivin’ Man.” Although trade attention initially centered on “Don’t Drop It,” which attracted five separate covers aimed at distinct markets, the B-side ultimately proved more durable, accumulating countless additional versions and returning to the country charts as late as 1976 in a recording by Red Steagall.

Fell remained with RCA and in the entertainment business for another five or six years without further chart success, yet he began carving out a behind-the-scenes role in Nashville. He continued to make occasional discs for Crest, Lode, and once more for RCA, but his real earnings soon derived from songwriting and publishing activities, which proved far more lucrative than his performing career.