Truckstop Records was started by Braden King and Joe Ferguson in a Chicago warehouse on S. Michigan Ave., located literally a stones' throw from the former Chess Records Studio site. Truckstop was initially intended to be a recording studio for a loose collective of musicians, all from different disciplines and backgrounds playing on each others records and tours or simply recording a jam session to see what results.

Truckstop began when the Boxhead Ensemble came together for the first time in 1995. Joe Ferguson, Braden King (an Atavistic Records employee and film maker) and Michael Krassner rented the S. Michigan Ave. loft as a live/work space for their not-yet-formed band when Kurt Kellison of Atavistic got wind of it. He suggested that Truckstop (as the loft space had now come to be known) house some of his recording equipment so that his label's groups could have a cheap alternative to the more costly recording studios around town. In return, King, Ferguson and Krassner would be able to use the equipment whenever they wanted to. A month into the editing Boxhead Ensemble's Dutch Harbor soundtrack, Braden realized he wanted to concentrate on film making, so Kurt at Atavistic took over the releasing and promoting.

"This neighborhood used to be 'record row'. Chess records and BJ and Palace records... So we're kind of like one of the last stands." -- Michael Krassner

Contrary to popular belief, their studio was not built on the site of an old Stuckeys.