Tombstone Every Mile

Dick Curless | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 27, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B0002B16DW
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,175 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #56 in Music > Country > Classic Country > Bakersfield Sound

Track Listings

1. A Tombstone Every Mile

2. Streets of Laredo

3. King Of The Road

4. Uncle Tom

5. China Nights

6. Cupid’s Arrow

7. Six Times A Day (The Trains Came Down)

8. Tear Drops In My Heart

9. Down By The Old River

10. Nine Pound Hammer

11. Sunny Side Of The Mountain

12. Heart Talk

Editorial Reviews

Maine native Dick Curless had long recorded for regional labels when songwriter Dan Fulkerson approached him with "A Tombstone Every Mile," the tale of a real-life stretch of Maine highway often lethal to truckers. Released nationally in 1965, the song became a #5 single for Curless and this, his first album for Tower Records, soon reached the Top Twenty on Billboard’s country album charts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A 'Sixties country classic, September 21, 2004

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tombstone Every Mile (Audio CD)

A regional success up in New England, Maine's country croaker Dick Curless hit the Top 5 back in '65 with "Tombstone Every Mile," a classic tune that remains one of the best trucker songs ever recorded. Whether he really had what it takes to sustain a national career after that is debatable... As this album shows, he certainly had his limitations as a singer, and yet he also had a certain gravitas that could pull you in. On the sparser, more folk-oriented songs, he often ran out of juice, but with a good, solid, thumping backup behind him, he sounded pretty darn good. This disc is certainly worth checking out... and Curless's fans will be quite pleased to see this back in print as a reissue. (It's certainly easier to pick up than Bear Family's mega-box set, which has all the same material... and several CDs more! This one disc might be enough to get your feet wet...)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Signature truckin' tune and country-folk, November 30, 2004

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tombstone Every Mile (Audio CD)

The baritone-voiced, Maine-bred Curless had a broader range than his trucking themed hits might suggest. Though he could sing country inflected folk songs (similar, in many ways, to the early works of Waylon Jennings), he could also sing Western favorites, and croon straight-ahead pop songs. His signature, though, was this album's title cut, a harrowing tale of an icy Maine road - one of the genre's best.

Additional trucking hits would turn up on later albums, but this time out Curless turned to classics with a superb, funereal-paced "Streets of Laredo," a wonderfully laid-back cover of Roger Miller's "King of the Road," and a lightly Westernized cover of The Sons of the Pioneers' (by way of Jim Reeves') "Teardrops in My Heart." Some of the album's best tracks are its least produced, such as the acoustic guitar led bluegrass standard, "The Sunny Side of the Mountain" and Curless' superb waltz-time "Down by the Old River." Curless' dramatic baritone is also a fine match for the drama of Merle Travis' "Nine Pound Hammer" and the comedy of Wynn Stewart's "Uncle Tom."

Those who only know Curless from his trucking hits will enjoy this broader look at his folk-country and pop crooning.

5.0 out of 5 stars Dick Curless At His Very Best.., July 10, 2008

By 

R. Webb "minstrel man" (u.s.a.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tombstone Every Mile (Audio CD)

The album Tombstone Every Mile released in 1965 on Tower Records was a turning point for "the baron" hitting the Country Billboard Charts in the top twenty. A different sound than the usual mainstream country we're used to hearing, almost a slight folk touch,Dick Curless has that deep rich baritone voice, accompanies himself with guitar on these fine recordings,Curless is an excellent guitar player singing these songs with definite authority,the title song,"Tombstone Every Mile",the man from Maine gives a warning to all truckers about a dangerous road in Maine. The Japanese written "China Nights",Curless was known as the "rice paddy ranger" and featured this tune on his radio show while stationed in Korea. - other notable songs: "Teardrop's In My Heart", the Curless originals - "Heart Talk",and "Down By The Old River". Tombstone Every Mile is a good one.