Why release a holiday song over the winter when you can drop a macabre rockabilly tune about a tow truck driver in Vermont? What better way to observe the longest nights of the year than with a peppy, minor tune about driving through the eerie darkness?

Are there better ways? Almost certainly. But the Motor Inns weren’t interested.

So here you have our latest track–the first official rockabilly recording by Pete Berris & the Motor Inns, with plenty of surfy weirdness thrown in. The Night Wrecker was inspired by two very memorable real-life experiences. It’s a musical tribute to the tow truck drivers who rescued me from (1) the side of I-91 near White River Junction, Vermont for what turned out to be an hours-long multi-state ride; and (2) the mountains of Western Maryland right before a major blizzard. What is it that the Car Talk guys used to say? “Life is too short to drive boring cars”?

Substantively, The Night Wrecker is in the tradition of truck driving songs like Red Simpson’s “Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves” and Dick Curless’ “Tombstone Every Mile.” Musically, it’s an homage to some of the weirder rockabilly classics like Gene Vincent’s “Cat Man,” and Bill Haley’s “Thirteen Women (And Only One Man Around).”

A full DIY Experiment post is forthcoming, which will include a brief history of rockabilly, a discussion of the creative process in making this song, alternative takes (one of which is truly unhinged), and a description of the equipment used!