Published September 2007

King of the Load

By Jim Kneiszel (page 70)

He’s no Roger Miller, but this sanitation storyteller has all the pumper tales covered in song.

You’re not going to find Bob Carlson’s music library on Apple’s iTunes, but more than a few pumping contractors have picked up his compact discs at his booth at the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International over the years.

Carlson runs Glendale Welding, an Arizona-based vacuum truck builder by day. At night you’ll find him in the recording studio, laying down the tracks to his latest pumper-oriented song. He recently released his second self-produced CD, “A Brand New Dream,’’ which includes a mix of songs about pumpers and what he calls “radio ready’’ country tunes.

The pumper songs are written to give the portable sanitation industry a pat on the back and credit to the hardworking folks who do a job most people wouldn’t tackle. He believes there’s far too little appreciation for the men and women who hold the working end of a vacuum hose to clean out portable restrooms and septic tanks.

The industry-related tunes on the new disc include “A Straight Flush Beats a Full House,’’ “Suck it Up,’’ and “I Could Have Been a Pumper.’’ The latter song details the regret a man feels when he chooses to work a white collar job in a dull office setting when he could have gone into pumping and performed a satisfying job in the great outdoors every day.

Carlson’s life followed a similar path. He started a career as an English teacher, but then followed in the family business building service trucks for the portable sanitation industry.

In 2004, Carlson was nearly killed when he suffered an aortic aneurism while driving a vacuum truck to a trade show and crashed into a highway embankment. Now 56, Carlson has rededicated himself to writing, painting and other artistic pursuits he always enjoyed. He’s the author of Pumper 101 – The Complete Guide to Owning and Operating a Vacuum Truck, is an occasional contributor to Pumper® and has published a few novels. He’s currently writing a biography about a music producer who worked at Motown Records in its heyday in the 1960s.

Carlson’s books and CDs are available at www.penbobpublishing.com.

While Carlson will stick close to his pumping roots, he hopes to one day sell a tune to Nashville producers … and see his work marketed to a mass audience.

“I’ve always wanted to have a song on the radio, a book in the library and paintings in the museum,’’ he says.

Got a song idea?

Bob Carlson has penned 17 pumper-oriented songs over the years, and says he’s drained of most of the good ideas on the subject of portable sanitation. He’s looking for more ideas and turns to the readers of Pumper for help. If you have a story idea you think will translate well into song lyrics, drop Carlson a line by e-mail at info@penbobpublishing.com.