His patrol was ambushed on June 21, 2006, by a much larger enemy force in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan.ĭuring the onslaught, Monti called for artillery and close-air support while he engaged enemy forces attempting to flank his patrol. Monti's son, Jared, was a team leader with 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI). "I Drive Your Truck" was written, recorded and released, and Paul Monti had no idea he helped inspire it. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart and its official video on Youtube has well over 5 million views.īut the story of a truck, a fallen hero and a father's grief that sparked a chart-topping song only begins here. You end up, oftentimes, with something that you wouldn't have had on your own."Ī year and a half later, what the three songwriters created, country music's latest star crooned, and the song reached No. "It's a quicker process when you write with co-writers. "You have these songs that just get to the core of you in your heart and you feel like you know you have got something special - you want to write it as soon as possible," Harrington said. In the days that followed, she would enlist the help of fellow songwriters Jessi Alexander and Jimmy Yeary.
Riveted by Monti's story and fighting back tears, she scribbled down her thoughts on Post-it notes. More than a thousand miles away, on that same Memorial Day weekend in 2011, Nashville-based songwriter Connie Harrington was listening to the NPR program on her car radio. I think about him every hour of every day." I love driving it because it reminds me of him, though I don't need the truck to remind me of him. "What can I tell you, it's just … it's him," Monti said then of the black Dodge Ram pickup, which he drove to his son's gravesite at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Mass. One of its songwriters was inspired to write it two years ago, when she heard Paul Monti on National Public Radio telling a reporter that he drives the truck left behind by his son, Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. When Lee Brice's country hit "I Drive Your Truck" comes over the radio this summer, 10th Mountain Division (LI) Soldiers can take pride in knowing the song honors the memory and Gold Star father of one of their fallen comrades. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL 2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Monti, appears with songwriters Jimmy Yeary, Connie Harrington and Jessi Alexander as well as country singer Lee Brice during an event in Nashvi. Brice's strong lyrical performance in 'I Drive Your Truck' should broaden the story's scope, making it a big hit commercially and artistically.Paul Monti, left, father of fallen Fort Drum Soldier and Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. There are relatively few songs by men about losing a brother, father or friend, so every time one is done well ( Justin Moore's 'If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away' and Dean Brody's 'Brothers' are two examples) it feels like a punch to the gut of a guy on that fragile edge. The end of the second verse contains a few words that really spell it out. " And Mama asked me this mornin' / If I'd been by your grave / But that flag of stone / Ain't where I feel you anyway."
'I Drive Your Truck' captures the little ways one deals with loss.
“ I drive your truck / I roll every window down / And I burn up / Every back road in this town / I find a field I tear it up / ‘Til all the pain’s a cloud of dust / Yeah sometimes I drive your truck.”
" This thing burns gas like crazy / But that's all right / People got their ways of copin' / Oh, and I've got mine," Brice says before going into the type of soaring chorus fans became familiar with in hits like 'Love Like Crazy.' You can hear him trying to hold on as he gets through each verse. He said he began thinking of his granddaddy the first time he heard the demo and lost control of his own emotions. To deliver an impactful performance however, Brice had to internalize the story.
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