Tony Justice: Top billing at MATS, honoring a mother's legacy, prospects for new record

This week’s edition of Overdrive Radio starts with a brief part of "Truck Stop," earmarked by today's guest for a special place in his heart the last time we hosted him. That'd be trucker-songwriter Tony Justice, who back then in 2023 spoke to the inspiration the song took from Justice’s mother’s long work at a couple of different East Tennessee truck stops you’ll hear him mention in today’s podcast. Yet it’s with a bit of heavy heart, here, that we get this edition rolling, given Sharon Justice passed in November last year. It’s no small number of truck drivers -- and one trucking magazine editor at least -- that were touched by her life, that’s sure, Tony Justice and his late father chief among them. "She felt like she was still taking care of dad," Justice said, noting how much Momma J, as she was known to so many, loved the work she did over the last nearly two decades of her life. "You wouldn't find a cleaner shower on the interstate, or a more warming smile to meet you when you walked into the door." Fellow trucker-songwriter Bill Weaver, Justice said, summed it up best once noting he didn't "know anyone who was called Momma by so many different people." Tony Justice is back on Overdrive Radio this week for a bit of preview of his big headlining concert upcoming next week Friday, March 28, at the end of the day at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky. Find more about MATS happenings via the collection at this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/t/4372607 If you're unfamiliar with Tony Justice’s music, know that for a decade and a half and more now it's been nothing if not steeped in his life over-the-road, joined in the journey by his wife and chief promoter, Misty Justice. For many years he trucked with Everhart Transportation out of Greeneville, Tennessee, among others prior, yet these days enjoys not having to deal with shippers and receivers so much behind the wheel of his own tour bus. And if you’ve not seen Tony Justice live, get ready for a spectacle at MATS, that’s sure. He performs with a crack group of players, and it’s always a great show. Dive into a conversation with Justice that touches on plans for the big show with Colt Ford at MATS March 28, the Justices' huge Large Cars & Guitars Truck Show event in East Tennessee in May (at a new location this year), and the legacy of Momma J, the late Sharon Justice.