The cowboys from the Waterkant celebrate themselves and country music

A little country music, a little jazz - that's how the success story of "Truck Stop" began to become the best-known and now longest-serving German country band. On March 10, 1973, six young men appeared on the big stage in Hamburg's jazz club "Remter" for the first time, playing "Hello Josephine" from "Fats Domino" and a few songs by Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. One of these six men is still with us today and has fond memories of the early days: Wolfgang "Teddy" Ibing, drummer. "I'm the Methuselah of the chapel," laughs the 74-year-old.

"The 'Remter' was getting fuller and was soon bursting at the seams," he says as he thinks back to the first performances. "The 'Remter' was then our stronghold." Later, "Truck Stop" then dinged through other Hamburg clubs, such as the "Onkel Pö" or other long-closed and forgotten bars on the Reeperbahn. Back then, they only ever played songs by American artists, Ibing remembers. "Our English songs kept getting better, but sales kept getting worse."

Therefore, the "Cowboys" decided to switch to German. Success came immediately with the LP “Zuhause”. The released single "I would like to hear Dave Dudley" became a hit and is still a cult among country fans today. "The woman with the seat belt", which then became a nationwide campaign for seat belts to be compulsory, also contributed to the increasing level of awareness of "Truck Stop". More than 45 albums and a good 6000 concerts are the proof.

"Truck Stop" - the band owes its name to its founding member Erich Doll, who died in 2019. "He came back from the USA at the time and chose the name," says Ibing. Later, the film "Convoy" with Kris Kristofferson and Ali MacGraw, in which truckers are portrayed as modern-day cowboys, together with the American military radio station AFN, contributed to the growing popularity of country music, but also of "Truck Stop" in Germany. "Suddenly all truck drivers were truckers," says Ibing. But with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of heavy traffic to Poland and the East, as well as the end of AFN, enthusiasm for this style of music waned among the population. "Now the truckers are truck drivers again."

Many German country bands complain about the dwindling interest in their music and usually only see older fans in the audience. Not so with “Truck Stop”. "We've had a younger audience lately," says Ibing. "But the young people see the whole thing more as a cult than as a party." And they should have a party when "Truck Stop" goes on tour through Germany on March 10, with a detour to Austria. Since the old "Remter" has long since closed its doors like many other traditional clubs in Hamburg, "Truck Stop" has to switch to the Laeiszhalle.

To properly celebrate the big birthday, "Truck Stop" has put together an album entitled "50 Years" with the most beautiful songs from this time. On the two CDs, the musicians take their fans chronologically backwards on a journey through the decades. Hits like "Take it easy, old house" are just as important as "Der Wilde, wilde Westen" or "Hily Billy Country Lilly" - and of course "Hello Josephine" as the crowning glory of the musical journey through time.

In a brief look back at the past 50 years - "time flies" - Ibing also thinks back to his deceased colleagues Cisco Berndt (died 2014), Burkhard "Lucius" Reichling (died 2012) and Erich Doll. But the voices of Cisco and "Lucius" remain, at least in the new album - with new technology "everything is possible". And Truck Stop will continue to exist for years to come. As can be heard in the title song "50 Years": "Your cowboys will never go home."