FIXTITLE Joey Holiday.docx
KEEPIN’ TRUCKIN’ MUSIC ALIVE
The Story
Of
Joey Holiday
As simple as I can put into perspective, each year a person has on this Earth means we are given further time to allow more opportunities and obstacles to continue shaping our lives. This next Legend has experienced every high and low life has had to offer him. Still he remains a breath of fresh air to the next stranger placed in his path. Never giving his worst moments power over him, he always found a way to keep moving forward with faith as his compass. With a testimony that will pull at your soul and a heart as pure as his intentions, Joey Holiday is known to the trucking world as our generation’s popular entertainer. But to me, Joey is one of the most down-to-earth, tender hearted, zealous human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.
His memory bank is so rich with detail that I’ll only be able to share a selected few of his highlights. If one day you find yourself in the company of Mr. Holiday, be sure to speak with him. He is very inviting; never meeting a stranger.
From my very own state, Sweet Home Alabama, Joey was born in Montgomery the second to youngest of four children. Before reaching his teens, his parents split and his mother remarried. His stepfather relocated the family to Miami, Florida. He worked as a diesel mechanic for the railroad and was also a preacher. Joey’s biological father was a man of many talents. He did it all: trucker, painter, electrician, and a singer musician. Joey states, “Why I do what I do now is because of my dad. I have emulated him in all ways possible.” In the earlier years growing up, their relationship struggled. Partly on his father’s behalf from battling his own issues. Later the two men reconciled in time to make amends after they discovered his father suffered from early dementia. When he fell sick Joey and his wife, Vicky visited him regularly before he passed away.
Before Joey was born and his older siblings were very young, his mom and dad played music on the radio in Montgomery. He recalls hearing the stories of his dad impersonating Hank Williams Sr. and how famous he was around town for being his look-alike. Joey grew up in church from a young age. Praying and music is where Joey found refuge. Through prayer he has direct communication to whom he gives all of his worries, trust and glory. Music is his outlet for him to share what needs to be said.
At 13 years old while riding his bicycle, Joey was struck by a vehicle and spent the next four weeks recovering in a hospital. On the way there in the ambulance it was said they had lost him twice before arriving. He required two blood transfusions and remained in a coma for three days. From the horrific accident, Joey suffered a fractured skull, a severe scar on his face (repaired by many surgeries), and other facial repairs. Including his earlobe and eyebrow.
When he was well enough to return to school as a typical teenager, the kids ridiculed him because of the reconstruction that was done to his face. He immediately retreated to music as a safe haven. He was able to pour his words and feelings in a direction where nobody could hurt him. His mother taught him a few chords on the guitar. He wasn’t able to play other people’s music, so he decided to write his own. He kept at it and taught himself more and more along the way. With a heavy heart at such a developing age, he didn’t write many love songs. Instead, he channeled more of his own surroundings and what was impacting his life at that moment. Which has ultimately enriched his gift as a distinguished singer songwriter from his years of experience in translating his frame of mind into beautiful lyrics that we can all relate to.
By the age of 15, Joey was playing in a cover band. Almost two years later, his family moved again to the other side of Miami forcing him to start over. It didn’t take long. He, along with four other members formed a band and called themselves, Lord. Joey was the lead singer at only 17 years old. “We were a loud, outrageous band of diverse people. It was great!” Joey said. For three years they performed at a number of local spots. At 19, a few members of Lord and a couple of others put together another band, Private Stock and recorded his very first video. He spent the following year and a half playing all over the Fort Lauderdale area.
The sound of the band and his own musical preference began taking off in different directions. Joey saw himself as more of a southern rock and country rock performer. He took a year off and went with a more stationary profession into the family business becoming an electrician. Changing up his career from one end of the spectrum to the complete opposite only helped him recognize that music and traveling is where he belonged. His love for music drew him back in. This time as a solo artist…. However, because of his break from singing he is still a very good electrician to this day.
Another musician that he had become close friends with entered a talent contest and won a free vacation to the Caribbean for an entire week. Joey couldn’t help but wonder if he could have won that prize getaway. His kind friend mentioned that the owner of the place that held the contest was looking for a band to perform at the club. At the time, Joey only knew how to play 20 songs on his own, but was determined to audition for the slot anyhow. The man in charge agreed to give Joey a shot. After he played his 19 songs, he decided to end his set with Piano Man, by Billy Joel. He received a thumbs up and landed his first gig as a solo act. He started the next night. He says, “I had always played for friends or with my bands. I never really made a living on it. So I learned 20 more songs and built my repertoire up. I kept adding more.” The name, Joey Holiday became a hit on the Fort Lauderdale scene and he wasn’t even old enough to legally drink yet.
His only brother was living in Jacksonville, Florida managing a music store. After Joey left Fort Lauderdale, he moved closer to him. He began doing shows at fishing camps and bars. On one particular night, back in 1989 he was performing at a local bar and his eyes spotted a woman who was there with a few of her friends. As she was walking by the stage leaving, Joey spoke into the microphone directly asking her to come back by herself. The crowd of over 100 people got a kick out of it and his smooth talking worked. She came back and the two haven’t separated since. He said, “I knew when I met her that I was going to marry her. I even told my best friend that night, I’m going to marry that chic and we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.” … and he did! Vicky and Joey tied the knot in 1992, in Nashville 23 years ago.
A year earlier, they moved to Nashville so that Joey could try to launch his career and what better place to do it than in the heart of country music. He played at different clubs on Broadway, trying to break out. He had sent his cd to a blues record company, based out of Mississippi that had a country publishing company, as well. They offered Joey a song writing deal. This record company hooked him up with a booking agency. “I went from playing in small bars in the Fort Lauderdale area to being thrust into the larger scale honky tonks and casinos,” he said. “I remember thinking, I’ve made it. I’m on my way!”
One night while in Philadelphia, Mississippi Joey’s career took a detour after a sequence of events took place. He was walking through a casino on a typical Sunday after a show when a lady asked him if he wanted his pay check. Unaware that was even possible, given the day of the week he immediately cashed it and divided up the money. His own earnings went in his left pocket and the money owed to the band in his right. Then the hotel payment, gas and so-on went into his back pocket to keep it all separated. Strolling through the casino about to leave, he spotted a blackjack table. He put down a twenty and won. He then began betting hundreds at a time. Next he added some alcohol to the mix and in three hours he had lost his entire check of $4,000. He went back to his hotel room and called Vicky. She was at home in Nashville, all alone. Feeling completely defeated, he explained to his wife what had happened. He said to her, “I lost all of our money. I started drinking and couldn’t control it. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have to pay the band tomorrow…” Vicky remained calm in soothing her distraught husband. She told him that she would find a way to get the money and handle it, for him to go to sleep and get some rest. Ashamed and disappointed in his choices over the last few hours, he did the only thing he knew he could get right; he prayed. “I got down on my knees and I prayed! I asked for Him to take me out of the bars and casinos. Even though this is all I’ve ever wanted, I wanted away from it if this is how it was going to be,” he says. In pleading for help and guidance, he prayed that if at all possible, music be left in his life with the exception of bars and casinos.
When his tears had reached their max, he did as Vicky said and went to bed. Later he says that he woke up to a vivid dream. He recalls hearing a distinct voice say to him, ‘Do music for truckers.’ What he jokes about now is how he tried to reason with this voice and asked, ‘Why?’ Because in his mind, he wanted to be a star like Elvis or at least have a career in that genre of music. Not singing in the trucking business. He started to argue with the voice in his dream when he heard it again, ‘Do music for truckers.’ On the third time, he woke up.
Obligated under contract, Joey finished the events scheduled over the following months, but his dream weighed on his mind. After his last gig he knew he was done. In a way, relieved and he hasn’t looked back. It’s been over 20 years and Joey has not played at a bar or casino since.
In pursuit of honoring his intuition, Joey considered a new avenue to draw attention towards his music in the trucking industry. It was 1993 when he reached out to a trucking publication inquiring prices for advertisement. In explaining what his need for an ad was about, he wanted to clarify that he wasn’t necessarily pitching a product or needing to hire truck drivers. He was hoping to promote his music written for truckers. In order to do so, he knew that he needed to find a way for his audience to find him. The woman he spoke with was very interested in his work. So much so, that she offered assistance from her photography team at the magazine in making his album cover. She had mentioned there was a radio network based out of Chicago that played trucking music, that when he completed his record for him to contact them.
For the following year, all Joey focused on was cutting a record. He saved up a bit of money and recorded a song. Then saved up some more and recorded another one, repeating this process until he had nine songs put together. As ready as he hoped to be, he jetted back down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama from Nashville to hand deliver his record to his only link into the trucking world. He had made the long drive only to find that the business had completely closed their doors. With no choice but to return home, he was unsure of what his next step would be. Refusing to give up, he remembered in their conversations the radio station up north. He did some research and called them up.
A DJ that ran a show from midnight until five in the morning answered the line. Joey jumped into his pitch. He says, “I told him, ‘Sir you don’t know who I am. My name is Joey Holiday and I’ve made a record for truck drivers. It has rock and roll, country, comedy, and some gospel.’ I caught him by surprise because he said he couldn’t believe someone had put that many genres on an album for truckers.” The DJ insisted that Joey send him his cd and he would take it with him to the Country Radio Seminar, going on that weekend. During the annual event, Country Radio Stations and DJ’s come from all over to meet in Nashville and interview artists. Joey and Vicky scrambled to borrow the $25 to send his cd by mail for it to arrive in 2 days. Unfortunately, his cassette didn’t arrive before the DJ left for the event and remained on his desk. Joey had attempted to contact the DJ, as he was requested for a meeting even though he knew that he didn’t have his album. With no luck in getting in touch with him, Joey was back to square one… the radio station. This time John, the general manager of the radio network answered. Joey shared his reason for calling, including his demo and plans to meet up with the station’s DJ. John found his unopened package and offered to meet with him personally in Nashville. The two men and their wives went to dinner at the Grand Ole Opry. The women instantly hit it off and broke the ice. John took Joey to listen to a few interviews with other musicians, allowing him to see firsthand what went on behind the scenes. At the end of the night, they shook hands and John agreed to listen to Joey’s music. Joey says with a laugh, “I assumed he had already listened to it. After we had done everything that night, come to find out he hadn’t even heard my music. It was the most fascinating night of my life, being able to see the inner workings of how they interact with stars and the whole jist of it all.”
The next morning John’s wife called Vicky stating that John loved his record and wanted to meet for dinner again at the Grand Ole Opry. “It was all surreal. We had been living in Nashville for over three years and never been to the Grand Ole Opry because we couldn’t afford it. Now here we are going for the second night in a row,” he said. John handed him a piece of paper that was an outline of a song called, Knights of the Road. Back in the 60’s, truckers were referred to as the knights of the road. What John was needing was a finished song. After hearing Joey’s talent for song writing, he knew he had found the one for the job.
Joey took the outline with him and on his way home he started brain storming on how to put the song together. As soon as he walked in his house, he grabbed his guitar and worked it all out. He called John for a third dinner, this time to play his song for him afterwards. The three of them sat quietly as Joey sang the new song. When he finished, his eyes went to John for his approval. Joey noticed that John was a bit teary eyed and began to panic. “I immediately thought that he didn’t like it. I asked him if he wanted me to change any of the words or what… but then he said not to change a thing. That he loved it! He was emotional because he was so touched by how it all came out.” In 1995, John went on to financially back Joey enough to cut 1,000 cassettes. He added this song to the other nine he had previously recorded and that’s how he produced his first record. He named it, For Truckers Only No Riders. It was extremely important to Joey that the truckers knew his music was specifically for them.
That March, the radio station invited Joey and Vicky on a Sweep-Stakes Tour consisting of 24 stops throughout 24 states. With twenty bucks to their names and 1,000 cassettes traveling in a rental car, they headed to the MATS in Louisville to kick things off. His very first tape was sold to a truck driver that he met in the men’s restroom of a truck stop. The reason he went into the restroom was because when he approached the truck stop, he saw posted ‘No Solicitation –Will be Prosecuted by Law’ on a sign, in big and bold letters. He explains, “We had absolutely no money. Not even enough to pay for parking to get into MATS. So I go into this restroom, praying that I could sell a few of my cassettes.” He asked a man if he would mind listening to his song. The man went with it and put Joey’s headset on to listen. Half way through the song the man’s eyes began to tear up. “Then my eyes got real big, like ‘What have I done?’ Then the driver said that the song is exactly what he is going through right now in his life with his girlfriend.” It was a song called, Drive. Joey wrote it about a truck driver that was in a heated argument with his spouse and went for a drive in his truck to think things through. Later he returns home to make things right. The lyrics hit home with this driver and changed his entire attitude. “…and that was the first cassette I ever sold!” Within 45 minutes he sold four more and walked out with $50.
His setup to perform at the trucking show was outside in front of the east wing entrance. The only catch was the weather was not cooperating. It was freezing and nobody wanted to stand in the cold. He moved inside, but back then live music was prohibited during the truck show. He had to resort to his two Sony cassette players. Again, there were issues because nobody was willing to place earphones on their ears after a stranger had them on theirs. That day he met over 500 truckers and sold only one cassette tape. “I went back to our hotel room and got on my knees, apologizing to my wife through tears. She had quit her accounting job to travel with me so that I could live my dream and now I’ve ruined our lives,” he said. Knowing exactly how to comfort him during his weakest moments, she lifted Joey from his kneeling position and reminded him that tomorrow is another day. Everything was going to work out…
The next morning Joey piled on every piece of clothing that he had packed and went to perform outside. He says, “I knew if everyone could just hear me sing; if they would listen to my songs, they’d buy these cassettes.” He stacked a 4X8 sheet of plywood on top of some milk crates and hung a skirt made by his mother-in-law around the wood and made that his stage. He sold 40 cassettes that day. Back in the room that night, he told Vicky his goal for the next day would be 41. By the end of the show, he hit his goal. Also, he had landed his first major sponsor, Lucas Oil Products!
Joey went on to begin his 24 state tour with his brother, Vicky and her parents. After the year had ended, he called John for advice on what to do next since the radio gig was up. He told Joey to hit all of the same locations as before, just this time on his own. So he did! Within a few years, he had built his list of stops up to 68 and then to 100. “That’s how we got started. It’s been 20 amazing years! We have had our share of ups and downs, but any time I get discouraged something happens and I get recharged all over again,” he said.
For 2016, with help from his fellow trucking buddy, Dreamer he is putting together a coast to coast tour traveling from the east coast to the west coast and back encompassing 40 truck stops along the way. He wants to finish with a concert in California guest staring two of his icons, Red Simpson and Junior Brown. Mr. Simpson is a true pioneer in the trucking music business and was one of the first entertainers to be introduced to the scene. To learn more about Joey Holiday visit joeyholiday.com. His music is available on ITunes, Rhapsody, Napster, even Amazon. His main sponsors are Lucas Oil Products, Inc., Gully Transportation, and PTL. Lucas Oil has been their longest supporter, for 20 years. Gully Transportation donated a tractor to haul Joey’s stage unit. Premium Transportation Logistics is their most recent major sponsor. Joey and his wife are very pleased with the overwhelming amount of support they have received over the years. If you are interested in sponsoring Joey and keeping his dream going so that he can continue performing music for truckers around the country, please don’t hesitate to contact them at [email protected]. Let’s all come together and help keep truckin’ music alive!