The Drive By Truckers

[BillsFanNC]

History of Alternative Country . . . Uncle Tupelo -----> Wilco/Son Volt -----> Drive-by Truckers.

 

The latest Sun Volt album is every bit as good if not better than what Wilco is doing these days IMO.

[Astrojanitor]

History of Alternative Country . . . Uncle Tupelo -----> Wilco/Son Volt -----> Drive-by Truckers.

 

The latest Sun Volt album is every bit as good if not better than what Wilco is doing these days IMO.

 

YES!

 

Son Volt gets kind of lost in the shuffle. But I'll tell you what, I find Son Volt consistently exciting and interesting, but Wilco in a massive downward spiral since 1998. First 3 records are killer, but now is just bland sub-Eagles to me. People are getting more and more excited about Wilco, but I just don't hear it anymore.

 

if you dig the alt-country I've been loving Felice Brothers recently (one member is a professional traveling dice player--beat that!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKTZJRsKEM

[Delete This Account]

Uh, Okay . . . .

 

History of Alternative Country . . . Uncle Tupelo -----> Wilco -----> Drive-by Truckers. Is that alright?

Max, i was kidding around. i meant no disrespect. my apologies if you took it the wrong way.

 

jw

[Buftex]

YES!

 

Son Volt gets kind of lost in the shuffle. But I'll tell you what, I find Son Volt consistently exciting and interesting, but Wilco in a massive downward spiral since 1998. First 3 records are killer, but now is just bland sub-Eagles to me. People are getting more and more excited about Wilco, but I just don't hear it anymore.

 

if you dig the alt-country I've been loving Felice Brothers recently (one member is a professional traveling dice player--beat that!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKTZJRsKEM

 

 

Agreed... Wilco bored the crap out of me these days....

[LeviF]

YES!

 

Son Volt gets kind of lost in the shuffle. But I'll tell you what, I find Son Volt consistently exciting and interesting, but Wilco in a massive downward spiral since 1998. First 3 records are killer, but now is just bland sub-Eagles to me. People are getting more and more excited about Wilco, but I just don't hear it anymore.

 

if you dig the alt-country I've been loving Felice Brothers recently (one member is a professional traveling dice player--beat that!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKTZJRsKEM

I'm loving the Felice Brothers too. They're from my area, and the brothers went to my high school. Simone Felice spoke and sang at my graduation, stoned off his mind Got to talk to him after, great guy with a big heart.

[Delete This Account]

Agreed. Get yourself a copy of Southern Rock Opera next. Ronnie and Neil, Zip City, Women Without Whiskey, Dead,Drunk&Naked..heck they are all DBT classics.

just picked up "Pizza Deliverance" and "The Big To-Do."

givnig Pizza my first spin and have been absolutely blown away -- i mean banged on the forehead floored -- by this entire collection of songs about losers and degenerates and drinking. "Margo and Harold," "Tales Facing Up," and "The Company I Keep," have jumped out at me.

and i got a big kick out of "The President's Penis is Missing."

 

oh, lordie, "Zoloft" just came on.

where the hell have i been, and how is it possible that i've missed this band. and the entire tin-eared Grammy board should be lined up and shot, and the GMA folks can go to hell, too, stuck on big and rich and rock guitars and mainstream baloney.

 

The Drive By Truckers have restored my faith in music. i now have a second-favorite band. 'Mats still rule.

 

jw

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

moe.

 

 

no.

[Chef Jim]

no.

 

Well of course not, you've had enough.

[MattyT]

if you dig the alt-country I've been loving Felice Brothers recently (one member is a professional traveling dice player--beat that!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKTZJRsKEM

Big fan of The Felice Bros. Going with the "brothers" theme, check out The Wood Brothers.

 

I'm going to have to try DBT again. Listened to a couple of songs and it didn't really capture my attention.

[Astrojanitor]

just picked up "Pizza Deliverance" and "The Big To-Do."

givnig Pizza my first spin and have been absolutely blown away -- i mean banged on the forehead floored -- by this entire collection of songs about losers and degenerates and drinking. "Margo and Harold," "Tales Facing Up," and "The Company I Keep," have jumped out at me.

and i got a big kick out of "The President's Penis is Missing."

 

oh, lordie, "Zoloft" just came on.

where the hell have i been, and how is it possible that i've missed this band. and the entire tin-eared Grammy board should be lined up and shot, and the GMA folks can go to hell, too, stuck on big and rich and rock guitars and mainstream baloney.

 

The Drive By Truckers have restored my faith in music. i now have a second-favorite band. 'Mats still rule.

 

jw

 

such a killer record. Nine Bullets, Box of Spiders and One of These Days...some of my favorite songs ever. the night GG Allin came to Town? Perfectly nails what it's like overhearing people talk about GG Allin. There's a great eye for detail in that song. Always reminded me of Elenor Rigby in that way--more of a short story than a song.

[Delete This Account]

such a killer record. Nine Bullets, Box of Spiders and One of These Days...some of my favorite songs ever. the night GG Allin came to Town? Perfectly nails what it's like overhearing people talk about GG Allin. There's a great eye for detail in that song. Always reminded me of Elenor Rigby in that way--more of a short story than a song.

their eye for lyrical detail and ability to twin them to wonderful melodies is what makes them truly special. what i've come to like is the added dimension shona tucker has brought, providing a depth and structure that folds right into what these guys were doing for so long.

 

there's a maturity to their music now that might not match the early intensity, and yet, it's as if they've truly found their voice.

 

what impresses me is after seeing bands and acts go down the wrong road of their influences (for some reason the fratelli's come to mind, and that's a bad example, because one song "three skinny girls" doesn't make a band), or try too hard to reinvent themselves (u2, rem) after growing bored, the Drive By Truckers continue to mine a glorious vein of twangy guitar-spirited music.

 

i've recently read where they were heavily influenced by the likes of Jerry Wexler and Jim Dickinson, two luminary giants of two great eras of music. both would be proud.

 

jw

[Astrojanitor]

their eye for lyrical detail and ability to twin them to wonderful melodies is what makes them truly special. what i've come to like is the added dimension shona tucker has brought, providing a depth and structure that folds right into what these guys were doing for so long.

 

there's a maturity to their music now that might not match the early intensity, and yet, it's as if they've truly found their voice.

 

what impresses me is after seeing bands and acts go down the wrong road of their influences (for some reason the fratelli's come to mind, and that's a bad example, because one song "three skinny girls" doesn't make a band), or try too hard to reinvent themselves (u2, rem) after growing bored, the Drive By Truckers continue to mine a glorious vein of twangy guitar-spirited music.

 

i've recently read where they were heavily influenced by the likes of Jerry Wexler and Jim Dickinson, two luminary giants of two great eras of music. both would be proud.

 

jw

 

Fun fact: Patterson Hood's father is David Hood, bass player for the Muscle Shoals Sound. They were the back up band for all those soul and blues albums Dickinson and Wexler were producing back in the day. When you grow up with the cat that lays rhythm behind Aretha, you grow up with respect.

 

I also love the dimension Shonna Tucker brings, but it's a drag the divorce drove Jason Isbell out of the band. He offered a gorgeous sense of melancholy that offered a brilliant couterpoint to Patterson and Cooley's "I will rock in spite of you" lyric narratives. Plus that softer vulnerable voice wears thin over the span of his solo albums, but kills it for one or two tracks in the middle of an overlong DBT opus.

 

They're one of those bands I've been lucky enough to watch grow up. Back in the day they couldn't even function on stage if they were sober. I saw one gig where they were begging people to buy them alcohol because they were too broke to get drunk enough to rock proper. Those early jams were these intense character studies. The more they get their act together they songs are not just about people's actions, but where the people live and the influences on their actions. They keep taking in more and more of the picture, which I find even more touching. There's a lyric on the new album on the song Birthday Boy that kills me. Not verbatim, but something like: pretty girls in small towns are remembered like scars and floods. The actual lyric is a lot better; but still, man what a beautiful and perceptive line. compare that to the faux deep drivel of the modern rock gibberish that's choking the airwaves.

[Delete This Account]

Fun fact: Patterson Hood's father is David Hood, bass player for the Muscle Shoals Sound. They were the back up band for all those soul and blues albums Dickinson and Wexler were producing back in the day. When you grow up with the cat that lays rhythm behind Aretha, you grow up with respect.

 

I also love the dimension Shonna Tucker brings, but it's a drag the divorce drove Jason Isbell out of the band. He offered a gorgeous sense of melancholy that offered a brilliant couterpoint to Patterson and Cooley's "I will rock in spite of you" lyric narratives. Plus that softer vulnerable voice wears thin over the span of his solo albums, but kills it for one or two tracks in the middle of an overlong DBT opus.

 

They're one of those bands I've been lucky enough to watch grow up. Back in the day they couldn't even function on stage if they were sober. I saw one gig where they were begging people to buy them alcohol because they were too broke to get drunk enough to rock proper. Those early jams were these intense character studies. The more they get their act together they songs are not just about people's actions, but where the people live and the influences on their actions. They keep taking in more and more of the picture, which I find even more touching. There's a lyric on the new album on the song Birthday Boy that kills me. Not verbatim, but something like: pretty girls in small towns are remembered like scars and floods. The actual lyric is a lot better; but still, man what a beautiful and perceptive line. compare that to the faux deep drivel of the modern rock gibberish that's choking the airwaves.

i gave up on the airwaves a very long time ago, so i couldn't tell you what's popular or why, really.

i hunt and peck and listen in hopes of finding something that's truly interesting and relevant. and by relevant i don't mean now, but is capable of standing up to the finger in the air, rebel without a clue philosophy that makes rock and roll unique and vibrant.

and i won't say rock and roll is dead, because there are far too many people still punching at the beancounters and clearchannel suits.

 

and i agree with you astro, that Wilco's lost its groove, did so a long time ago and this last album that i bought is another nail in that coffin. it's a little too precious in a long string of albums that have sounded much the same.

 

and that's what just might separate the DBTs from Wilco at this point, and maybe even earlier. fearing sacrilege, but here goes, i still haven't figured out what makes Tweedy the genius so many make him out to be. uncle tupelo was ok, but not that good. and if it was Tweedy's attempt at gaining alt-street cred by hooking up with Billy Bragg, well, more power to him.

trouble was, Tweedy and Wilco never built on that effort, which was focused and short and without much pretention. and then i listen to (The Album), and it's more of the lame.

 

and here's the line you were looking for:

 

The pretty girls from the smallest towns

Get remembered like storms and droughts

The old men talk about for years to come

I guess that's why they give us names

So a few old men can say they saw us rain when we were young.

 

-- Birthday Boy. Lyrics: Mike Cooley.

 

there's a lot of truth to that.

 

jw

[The Poojer]

I just saw that DBT are playing with Levon Helm Band at Helm's Midnight Ramble in Woodstock on June 5th...what a great evening of music that would be..

[BarkLessWagMore]

*bump*

 

The new DBT album drops next Tuesday and they are live streaming the entire record for the next few days at http://www.livestream.com/drivebytruckers. Enjoy! 66 minutes of pure wonderfulness. One of their best efforts, and that is saying something.

[Bills99999]

Not impressed

[NoSaint]

i too have gotten really into the DBTs over the past year, ever since i latched onto "Creation's Dark." what an ambitious piece of work, filled with an eclectic mix of music, some of it countrified, but in a very good way. i have picked up Decoration Day and don't know why i haven't made it through their whole catalog just yet, including Hood's solo stuff.

 

they strike me a little like Blue Rodeo, but far more mature and developed.

helps, too, that they've got a Replacements influence behind them now, Peter Jesperson, the man who first discovered the Mighty 'Mats, and thought enough to see them through their first albums.

 

what's also curious is part of their tour this year will be with Petty. it's somewhat ironic, considering The Replacements final record label had them touring with Petty in a bid to show the fall-down drunks how a "real pro" band tours. didn't work. the 'Mats, true to their rock and roll spirit, rebelled.

Petty at least got something out of it by ripping off the line, "Rebel without a clue."

 

hope the same don't happen to the DBTs.

 

one question: who is this Shonna Tucker, and when did she formally join the club. her voice provides a wonderful counterpoint to everything else that's going on.

 

jw

 

 

saw them twice in the last week or so -- great band. have heard the whole go-go boots cd which is due out tuesday and expect it to be one of the best yet.

 

shonna is their bass player, has been for as long back as ive followed them. was married to fellow band member jason isbell, they divorced he left, she stayed. theyve just recently gotten her into writing and singing. i think they like the extra wrinkle of a third person like they had with jason, and especially a female voice now. some of her older songs, not so good but the ones on this cd are head and shoulders better.

 

*bump*

 

The new DBT album drops next Tuesday and they are live streaming the entire record for the next few days at http://www.livestream.com/drivebytruckers. Enjoy! 66 minutes of pure wonderfulness. One of their best efforts, and that is saying something.

 

 

just an fyi if you get the cd at an indie record store, they are including a bonus EP with an extra studio song and a lot of live material from big to do and go-go boots

 

Fun fact: Patterson Hood's father is David Hood, bass player for the Muscle Shoals Sound. They were the back up band for all those soul and blues albums Dickinson and Wexler were producing back in the day. When you grow up with the cat that lays rhythm behind Aretha, you grow up with respect.

 

I also love the dimension Shonna Tucker brings, but it's a drag the divorce drove Jason Isbell out of the band. He offered a gorgeous sense of melancholy that offered a brilliant couterpoint to Patterson and Cooley's "I will rock in spite of you" lyric narratives. Plus that softer vulnerable voice wears thin over the span of his solo albums, but kills it for one or two tracks in the middle of an overlong DBT opus.

 

They're one of those bands I've been lucky enough to watch grow up. Back in the day they couldn't even function on stage if they were sober. I saw one gig where they were begging people to buy them alcohol because they were too broke to get drunk enough to rock proper. Those early jams were these intense character studies. The more they get their act together they songs are not just about people's actions, but where the people live and the influences on their actions. They keep taking in more and more of the picture, which I find even more touching. There's a lyric on the new album on the song Birthday Boy that kills me. Not verbatim, but something like: pretty girls in small towns are remembered like scars and floods. The actual lyric is a lot better; but still, man what a beautiful and perceptive line. compare that to the faux deep drivel of the modern rock gibberish that's choking the airwaves.

 

 

the second show i saw them at, david hood joined them for several songs, and it was recorded for a live vinyl release later this month. great show. David was actually mentoring shonna on bass before she joined the truckers, and thats how she got hooked up with them.

[Delete This Account]

way ahead of you NoSaint, but appreciate the heads up. i've already downloaded their free single a couple of months ago, and am hitting the record theatre here in town on Tuesday.

i've also kept an eye on their tour dates, but nothing excites me just yet. they're either playing too far away or at venues that are too big. for the first time i see them, i'd prefer a smaller club as opposed to a stadium and opening for tom petty and that ilk.

 

i am keeping an eye on that show they just announced in backwoods ontario, though the date's a little too far in advance for me to commit, given that i have a very uncertain schedule.

 

my wife and i are hitting the Loretta Lynn show up at the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda in a few weeks. can't wait for that.

 

jw

[NoSaint]

way ahead of you NoSaint, but appreciate the heads up. i've already downloaded their free single a couple of months ago, and am hitting the record theatre here in town on Tuesday.

i've also kept an eye on their tour dates, but nothing excites me just yet. they're either playing too far away or at venues that are too big. for the first time i see them, i'd prefer a smaller club as opposed to a stadium and opening for tom petty and that ilk.

 

i am keeping an eye on that show they just announced in backwoods ontario, though the date's a little too far in advance for me to commit, given that i have a very uncertain schedule.

 

my wife and i are hitting the Loretta Lynn show up at the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda in a few weeks. can't wait for that.

 

jw

 

yea i saw them in nashville consecutive days. the first was a larger (1000 or so people) venue for a standard show. phenomenal. played a 26 song set and blew me away, yet again. was my 5th time seeing them, and probably the shortest set they had played by a couple songs (seen them do 30+ more then once and go for 3+hours), but one of the best setlists. played a lot of older stuff that i had missed recently (bulldozers and dirt! and others of that timeperiod)

 

the second show was at jack whites recording studio/practice facility/lil bit of everything. It was maybe 200 people there, just dbt playing. only about a ten song set of mostly their more retro sounding stuff -- mercy buckets, everybody needs love, love like this, and even covered take time to know her from percy sledge. they were doing a limited run vinyl copy of it for the people at the show. cant wait to get it.

 

 

but yea, definitely make sure your local independent shop will be doing the "Sometimes late at night" cd as a free gift. it should be worth it even if you have to drive a little further or pay an extra couple dollars.

Edited February 12, 2011 by NoSaint

[DrDawkinstein]

I have mentioned them before and I will mention them again the best band going right now is the Gaslight Anthem. They are a punk Bruce Springsteen type band that kick ass. Also if you like Drive by Truckers check out the Hold Steady another great band.

 

 

i'm familiar with Gaslight Anthem. ...

 

If you guys like Gaslight, and Alt Country, I suggest checking out Lucero (if you havent already).

 

Great band out of Memphis. Sad, gritty, country with a good rock edge. Having been a fan of these guys for some time, I haven't been able to get into Gaslight Anthem much because every time I give GA a try I just want to put on Lucero and listen to someone do it better.

 

Slower Song:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a video I found while searching for my favorite song, of them rocking out Buffalo

Tonight Aint Gonna Be Good

 

 

and jw, dont be too mad at me for mentioning another band