Richard William Curless (March 17, 1932 – May 25, 1995) was an American country music singer best known for singing truck-drivin' songs such as "Drag 'Em Off the Interstate, Sock It to 'Em J.P. Blues." A tall man with an eye-patch and rich baritone voice, Curless was often called the "Baron of Country Music," after one of his popular songs, "The Baron."
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In 1956, Curless returned to the public spotlight and appeared on the CBS television show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. He spent much of the late 1950s performing in clubs in California and Las Vegas but occasionally returned home to Maine to recover from periods of illness and fatigue. While in Maine, Curless recorded several singles including "China Nights" at Event Records with Al Hawkes, but his budding career was interrupted by an ill health.Eventually he temporarily left the music industry and bought his own lumber trucking vehicle in Maine.
In 1970 Curless signed to Capitol and scored a Top 30 hit titled "Big Wheel Cannonball," based on the classic "Wabash Cannonball." The follow-up, "Hard, Hard Traveling Man" (1970), made it to the Top 40.
In 1975 Dick had most of his stomach removed, but he never really recovered from his health problems. However, it didn't prevent him from recording 20 new songs in 1976 at the Hilltop company's studios in Tennessee with Curtis McPeake & the Nashville Pickers (released only in Europe on an album called "CB Special"). Soon thereafter Dick experienced a religious transformation, and retired slowly from the music business, even though MR Records issued some of his singles in the late 1970's.
He released the albums Welcome to My World and It's Just a Matter of Time in Norway in 1987. The albums were successful in Europe, especially in Norway and Germany. In 1989 Dick's own Allagash Records issued the LP "Close Up", which was a tribute to his all-time singer-songwriter favourites and colleagues, including Smokey Rogers, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Pee Wee King and Brook Benton
By 1992 Dick worked at the Cristy Lane Theater in Branson, Missouri, and appeared randomly in TV and memorial concerts. In Germany he was a big star all the way to the end, and in the early 1990's he made his last recordings there, with the German singer Tom Astor.In 1995 the world saw the last comeback of Dick Curless, but tragically it wasn't meant to last long. The "baron" passed away on May 25, 1995, aged 63, shattered by stomach cancer, right after his strongly emotional Rounder album "Travelling Through" was released. (Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia & Black cat Rockabilly)