Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1044881
32 | Overdrive | November 2018 I n her 37 years, two of Mandi Jo Pinheiro's biggest loves have been trucking and music. The influencers in both areas have been many, but one musical mentor stands out: her father, Roger Brown. That influence paid off as music and trucking converged for Pinheiro in August. That's when she won the fifth annual Overdrive-Red Eye Radio Trucker Talent Search in Dallas. The team-driving owner-operator, based in Twin Falls, Idaho, says as much as she loves writing songs, playing the guitar and singing, she doesn't consider herself to be a natural on stage, so she was a bit surprised to win. "This was a big fear of mine — play- ing for a crowd," she says. "Now, I've done it. Besides the obvious feelings of happy and honored, I feel very proud of myself and a bit more courageous." In addition to a paid trip to GATS and a $1,000 prize, Pinheiro won a studio recording session. "I plan on taking Dad with me to the session," she says. Pinheiro says she did not start playing the guitar until her late 20s, after getting her first one as a birthday gift from her mother. "It sat for two years before I finally learned to play," she says. "My dad taught me to play. I'll be learning that thing forever." Pinheiro has long been one of her dad's biggest fans. "He is among the incredibly talented, undiscovered musi- cians around the world, the folks that just play for the love of playing. But he's great, and I just thought that it would be fun to get some recording done with him, something for me to carry with me the rest of my days." She draws inspiration from all sorts of artists, particularly "trucker musicians such as 'Long Haul Paul' [Marhoefer], Ken Freeman, Tony Justice, Bill Weaver and Taylor Barker. They set the tone for how life is for me right now and domi- nate my playlist." Pinheiro first rode in a truck around age 11. "My best friend and I rode in her uncle's truck from Twin Falls, Idaho, to maybe Helena or Butte, Montana." While "it left an impression," she says, "I didn't actually have the idea to be a truck driver until I was working in admin and I was super jealous of the UPS guy. Then I just started daydreaming about being the UPS driver. At that point, I never thought I could. They must get so cold delivering in the winter! One thing cooler would be to be a truck driver." Soon after high school, she relocated to Uruapan Michoacan, Mexico. "I fell in love with a dude that was from there," she says. They went to Mexico, plan- ning to get married. The wedding got delayed, and they moved back to Idaho, where the relationship fizzled out. Pinheiro learned a lot in Mexico, such as some conversational Spanish and how to wash and dry clothes properly without machines. More importantly, it led her to get a one-time job four years later: "I helped haul a pickup down on a flatbed hauled by another pickup." When she was 24, that job helped her get on with an Idaho-based company looking for experienced drivers. "I shut- tled personal vehicles up and down the Salmon River for a summer," she says. After that, she signed on with Boise, Idaho's Action Couriers, still driving a small van before upgrading to a larger Freightliner van. Action, then a mom- and-pop company, soon expanded into a large fleet. Singer-songwriter's winning portrait of highways and driver pride captures her passion for music and trucking BY KATHLEEN CRAFT Overdrive-Red Eye Radio s November 2017 | Overdrive | 32 Mandi Jo Pinheiro's Chihuahua, Avi, rides along on hauls. "She's meaner than hell," Pinheiro says.