I was listening to a country-western radio station around 1979 or 1980
and heard a tune I liked and immediately started recording it on my
tape player.  It turned out that the recording was not that good and I
missed the intro where the dj identified the song, artist, and so
forth.  I would like to get a good recording of this song, but so far
have been unable to find it by searching websites that offer lyric
searches.  Below are the lyrics to help you figure out the name of the
song, the artist who sang it and the music publisher of the song:

Kenwoods and Peterbilts, top of the line,
one more cup darling and make sure it's hot.
She's somewhere around 30, though her eyes are old,
a pot full of coffee and a heart full of gold.

Big trucks pull out on the interstate,
she goes to her station and gathers the plates.
With a pallmall cigarette hung from her lips,
she cleans up the tables and counts up her tips.

She quarters the jukebox, selection before, 
another truck driver walks through the door.
With a cup of her coffee, and a piece of her pie,
the Knight of the Road bids the sweetheart goodbye!

Chorus:
She's America's Sweetheart, a truck driver's dream,
the applie pie lady, a hamburger queen!
She's America's Sweetheart, the workingman's friend,
with a chewing gum smile and a filler up again!

My question is:  Who sang the song, who wrote it, who published it,
and where can I buy a good reproduction of the song??

This song does seem to be obscure.  Perhaps someone will find it, but
in the meantime, here's a possibility:

"America's Sweetheart" [title song is track 4]
All Music Guide
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=MISS70307022149&sql=A8hrsa9cgu238

The song "America's Sweetheart" by Sandy Szigeti is definitely not it.
 I have the recording from the radio and it was sung by a man, not a
woman, (of course, Sandy can be a name for a man but in this case I
believe it was a woman, which would be incorrect) and it was
definitely not rock, it has a country twang to it, or truck driver
twang.   Thanks for your efforts.  If it helps, I recorded it from a
radio station in Stockton, California in 1979 or 1980.  I only heard
it played once, and that was the time I recorded it.

frankalex -ga

I think it is very likely that the song you are looking for is
"America's Sweetheart," as performed by country legend Mel Tillis on
his LP "I Believe in You," which was released in 1978.  The album
reach #14 on the country charts and likely got substantial radio play.

Unfortunately, neither lyrics nor audio clips of the song appear to be
available online. Nor has the song apparently been released on a
Tillis CD compilation.  It appears to have also been recorded by the
Corbin/Banner band as a single -- in 1979.

Here are links to the All Music Guide's entries for Mel Tillis and for
that 1978 LP:

All Music Guide: Mel Tillis
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll

All Music Guide: I Believe in You
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70305141807&sql=Ay3he4j675wae

Copies of the LP are available from online sellers, but I
unfortunately can't guarantee that the song is the one you are
seeking.


markj-ga

As markj mentioned, a duo called Corbin & Hanner recorded a song
called "America's Sweetheart" in 1979.

http://www.oldies45s.com/title.asp?TID=16120

http://www.countryworks.com/artist_full.asp?KEY=CORBIN

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:lem_KO92a1MJ:entertainment.msn.com/artist/%3Fartist%3D133379+%22mel+tillis%22+%22america%27s+sweetheart%22&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8

I have confirmed that the Corbin/Hanna recording is of the same song
that Tillis recorded at about the same time.  Robert Corbin was the
songwriter, and the current publishers/administrators of the song's
copyright are PKM Music and Sabal Music Inc. Here is a link to the
source of that information:

ASCAP: ACE Title Search: America's Sweetheart
http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=310173514&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1

I feel confident that this is the song you want.  Now if I could just
prove it ... .

markj-ga

Pardon the typos.  I have mistyped "Hanner" twice (so far).  

markj-ga

OK, markj-ga first gave me the two best picks for the song I'm looking
for.  But pinkfreud-ga gave me more links that probably zero in on it
a lot better.  Then markj-ga shot back that zeroed in a little more. 
The song is probably called America's Sweetheart, based on the chorus
line of "America's Sweetheart..."  And I am quite sure the song I
heard and recorded was not sung by Mel Tillis, I think I know his
voice.  So that leaves the other group that recorded it, Corbin and
Hanner.  The best link to Corbin and Hanner was first provided by
pinkfreud-ga but then markj-ga zeroed in more, as mentioned above. 
However, even tho I now believe what I am looking for was the
"America's Sweetheart" as recorded by Corbin and Hanner, I am unable
to verify it since the link to hear a music clip of the song by Corbin
and Hanner, as provided by pinkfreud-ga, requires a windows type pc
and a windows based pc player.  I have a G-4 Mac, which is not
compatible, but I can hear clips recorded in mp3.  So the first one of
you guys (gals?) to email me a line or two of the song in mp3 format
(or provide a link so I can download an mp3 sample of the song) so
that I can then verify whether or not it is, in fact, the song I'm
looking for (and the group and publisher) then you win and have
answered my question.
My email is frank@frontrowexperience.com, if you don't have it
already.  Thanks for getting me this far!

Here's some new data to throw into the mix.  Maybe with this, MarkJ
and/or PinkFreud can find you an actual copy of the record or get you
that music file to listen to.  I forwarded your query to my brother,
former international director of the Country Music Association, now an
editor at Radio & Records and author of the music reference book, "The
Green Book of Songs by Subject: the Thematic Guide to Popular Music." 
He e-mailed his answer to me before MarkJ had added the extra stuff
about copyright info, so it sounds like he could be mistaken about the
writing credits...but MarkJ & Pink, hope this other info will help in
your sleuthing:

"I am almost certain that the song in question is called "America's
Sweetheart" by the Corbin/Hanner Band (label is Lifesong, serial # is
1783), released in January 1979 as the group Corbin & Hanner, who
changed their name after that single. Unfortunately, the song stiffed
at #85 on the Billboard Country chart, and never went anywhere on the
Radio & Records Country chart either. As you know, we had to draw the
line somewhere on songs that qualify for the book, and since this one
never went anywhere at all, it didn't make the cut for this edition. I
cannot find the song in print anywhere as far back as what was
available to buy in 1988, and it's possible that it never made it onto
an an actual album. I think the song was written by Dennis Morgan and
the great late Shel Silverstein (BMI)."

pinkfreud-ga  gave me a link to
http://www.oldies45s.com/title.asp?TID=16120
and from that link I ordered a 45 record that had America's Sweetheart
on it by Corbin and Hanner.  I played the record and sure enough it
was exactly what I was looking for.  I was hoping that pinkfreud-ga
could locate a few lines of the recording on the internet somewhere so
I could listen to it first to determine if the song was what i was
looking for.  But evidently, according to cryptica-ga, it just may not
exist out there to get a sample from, so pinkfreud-ga 's link was the
closest possible and he has answered my question.  I had to do a
little work myself, but he got me the closest.  Thanks pinkfreud-ga!!