Nothing is more disheartening than the unadulterated attitude that runs rampant in the music industry today. From MTV Music Awards fiascos (ahem, Courtney Love), to drunken nightclub brawls (Guns ‘n Roses), to run-ins with the law (Tupac Shakur) musicians nowadays seem to be full of themselves.

For these very reasons, Truck Stop Love is a refreshing change of pace, a rest stop on the busy highway of life.

The quartet is based in Manhattan, Kansas, a sleepy town planted amid wheat fields and Kansas State University. It’s a two-hour drive straight east from Kansas City, where two of the band’s members, Rich Yarges (on vocals and guitar) and Matt Mozier (lead guitar), met ‘n’ bonded in high school.

Once they were steeped in “higher education” at K-State, Rich and Matt somehow ran into the rest of the gang, including Brad Huhmann on bass and Eric Melin on drums. The four eventually melded into Truck Stop Love, a happy accident kind of move, considering they weren’t exactly music majors.

“Matt and me went to high school together in Kansas City,” Yarges explained. “The rest of us met at parties and stuff [in college]. I didn’t even start playing guitar till I came to school.”

The current lineup has been in existence since 1991 (the same year Yarges waved goodbye to college). At first, they stayed in the nation’s breadbasket, road-tripping to Lawrence and Kansas City for shows.

At first, TSL didn’t take themselves too darn seriously as musicians; beer and other potent potables worked their way into the band to an extreme degree.

“We used to be labeled ‘the drunkest band around’ at the beginning,” Yarges said. “We were so wasted when we were playing; people would show up just to see how drunk we were. We don’t do that anymore. We play a lot better now.”

That improvement is as clear as a mug of Zima. After several years together, Truck Stop Love now zigzags across the country; their most recent tour takes them from Minnesota to New York to Georgia. But no matter how many treks they take to places far and distant, no music feels quite as right as that that calls the central U.S. home.

“I like more of the Midwestern music,” Yarges said. “There’s not as much attitude as there is on the coasts or in Seattle. It’s more honest than other stuff. It’s not political; it comes straight from the heart.

“We’re not trying to impress people; we’re trying to make people feel how we felt when we wrote the song.”

Now that any tunes with a tad of twang get a load of attention and radio play, Truck Stop Love has run smack into some unwanted (and unwarranted) comparisons with other popular national acts.

“[Our music] can be [country] at times, but most of the time, it’s not,” Yarges explained. “We get this label, a lotta comparisons to Wilco, the Jayhawks. We might play a country song, but then we follow it with a real hard-core punk song.”

But despite the popularity of musicians who shuffle slide guitars with some rockin’ riffs, the mainstream media has been less than kind to those who want to experiment with some of the more traditional country bands.

“We’ve gotten scolded a lot for it in reviews and stuff,” Yarges said. “[They say], ‘You can’t play that stuff!’ like it’s some sort of hallowed ground we’re walking on. But we’ve been playing it longer than those other guys. We don’t have a banjo player and all that on stage.”

Truck Stop Love is not quite a month into their tour in support of their most recent release, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, a work straight out of grade school composition. While touring is the lifeblood and energy of any band, Yarges for one doesn’t mind the rigors of making a new album.

“I don’t mind recording,” he said. “We had a really good time recording the last time because we made it with two guys who wanted to make the record the same exact way we wanted to make it. No one was in charge. Everyone agreed on things; there were never really any arguments.”

One major change the band has gone through was the departure of Matt Mozier, the lead guitarist. While he participated in the album, he will not join his bandmates on stage. He called it quits a few weeks ago because of touring conflicts.

“There’s no bad blood or anything,” Yarges explained. “He just couldn’t do it anymore.”

Never fear, however, because Truck Stop Love is well on the road to recovery. His replacement, Jim Crego, has been practicing with the rest of the gang for a few weeks.

“The only thing that’s really changed is we don’t have as many songs to play,” Yarges said. “[Jim’s] still learning, getting into the groove of things.”

Truck Stop Love is appearing at the Love Shack at 625 East Court Ave. in Des Moines on the indoor stage Friday night. Special guest 6-Day Lane will start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.