Joseph "Red" Simpson (March 6, 1934 – January 8, 2016) was an American country singer-songwriter best known for his trucker-themed songs. Red Simpson was raised in Bakersfield, California, the youngest of a dozen children. At age 14, he wrote his first song. Simpson was working at the Wagon Wheel in Lamont when Fuzzy Owen saw him and arranged for Simpson to work at his Clover Club as a piano player. He then got a job replacing Buck Owens at the Blackboard Club on weekends.