Alabama’s trucking industry is saying thank you to the men and women behind the wheel this week — and this year, it’s doing it with a little more volume.
For the second year in a row, the Alabama Trucking Association has teamed up with Alabama-based band Heroes of the Highway to release an original song celebrating professional truck drivers.
The new single, “Get Miles,” is being released during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Sept. 13-19, as a tribute to the 3.6 million professional truck drivers who keep goods moving across the country.
The song follows last year’s “Highway Dreaming,” but this time the band turns up the intensity with a sound the association describes as leaning toward early-2000s post-grunge, complete with driving guitars, soaring vocals and drums.
“Get Miles” also continues the story that began in “Highway Dreaming.” The new driver introduced in the first song has now become a seasoned professional, settled into life on the road and putting in the miles.
The band behind the song includes Will Stewart on lead vocals and guitar; Les Nuby on lead guitar, bass and drums, as well as engineering and mixing; and Ford Boswell on backing vocals. Stewart and Boswell are credited as co-songwriters.
The tribute has a particularly strong connection in Alabama, where trucking is a major part of the state’s workforce. According to the Alabama Trucking Association, Alabama’s trucking industry is made up of 34,000 trucking companies and 125,000 working Alabamians, representing 1 in 13 jobs in the state.
But the association said recognizing drivers for one week isn’t enough. It pointed to its year-round work to protect drivers’ safety, earning power and the public trust they have built through their work.
Alabama Trucking said the celebration goes beyond music and other gestures of appreciation, emphasizing its year-round efforts to protect, support and celebrate professional drivers.
The Alabama Trucking Association has represented the state’s trucking industry since 1938 through advocacy, training and industry programs.
“Get Miles” is now available on streaming platforms.
