The Drive By Truckers...yes, no, maybe?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

I'm hearin' a whole lot of Steve Earle influence by way of his "Copperhead Road" days.

This is the brand new one, just came out last week:



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002E5OIW/qid=1094004423/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3379964-5914316?v=glance&s=music

The one before that, "Decoration Day," is widely recognized as their best and has an unforgettable stomper, "Hell No, I Ain't Happy"...



"They earned wide acclaim with the double-disc Southern Rock Opera, a sprawling concept album about Lynyrd Skynyrd. Their three-guitar lineup and greasy look signify big, dumb rock in the minds of many, but their songwriting is relentlessly whip-smart. And what may be their greatest song, "The Living Bubba," is an ode to a righteous, hard-rocking redneck felled by AIDS. No, the Drive-By Truckers never do anything by the book, so it's no surprise that with Decoration Day, the band's first release for indie New West Records, Patterson Hood and his mates take another rewarding left turn. The album boasts a handful of crowd-pleasing, party-starting cuts, like the brash, cranky rocker "Hell No, I Ain't Happy" and the Stones ringer "Marry Me." Yet more common are moments of startling beauty (the steel solos on "The Deeper In" and "Loaded Gun in the Closet" and the jangling guitars, rolling melodies, and soulful fiddle breaks of "Heathens" and "My Sweet Annette") and heavy doses of recrimination and regret, as in the back-to-back suicide tunes "When the Pin Hits the Shell" and "Do It Yourself." --Anders Smith Lindall"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009M8IA/qid=1094004423/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-3379964-5914316?v=glance&s=music

And thye one that first got them wide-scale attention was the 2-CD "Southern Rock Opera," loosely based on the Lynyrd Skynyrd saga:



"You don't need a bottle of Jack or even a trace of Southern lineage to appreciate the genius of Drive-By Truckers' Southern Rock Opera. Without a hint of irony, the Athens, Georgia, quintet creates a fast-driving, hard-living tribute to the indelible music and legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Like any good concept album, there's a modicum of plot and a theme to these 20 songs (loosely based around the rise and fall of fictitious Southern rock band Betamax Guillotine), but the best tracks make you forget the story line altogether: "Birmingham," "Zip City," and "Let There Be Rock." The "opera" aspects bog things down a bit--you probably only need to hear the spoken-word track "The Three Great Alabama Icons" once--but the overall concept still comes off without a hitch. The lyrics are great, the trio of electric guitars is blessed with raw production, and the tunes--though lacking the pop sensibility of, say, "Gimme Three Steps"--will have you cranking up the album for your friends. And, after a few spins of Southern Rock Opera, you might even find yourself digging out those old Skynyrd LPs to hear the real thing again. --Jason Verlinde"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000068FUS/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/104-3379964-5914316?v=glance&s=music

[tigereye]

1. great album covers

[mitchum]

2. I really wanted to like them...

since they wrote a tribute song to a dear friend of mine and they are "locals", but, IMO, it's just not there. Their lyrics are just catalogs of "cracker identity" semiotics (no different really than the same thing coming out of Nashville today) Hood is not a very good singer and the drummer is one of the WORST I have ever heard. Forget about the Skynyrd comparisons, DBT aren't even as good as second tier southern rock acts like Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. I didn't hear Skynyrd, I heard more Steve Earle, but you're right...

...the songs need some work. If I play "Decoration Day" in the car and concentrate on my driving (instead of the lyrics) it's nice background noise. I think I have more of an interest in what they're aiming for than what they've actually achieved...

:toast:

[mitchum]

4. You really should check out The Backsliders...

a now defunct band from Raleigh, NC. Their two albums really do come from the same place as Earle at his best. Unfortunately, they imploded due to the actual hard living that DBT only market.
Like I said, I really wanted to like them...

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

5. I will, thanks for the recommendation

Someone recently posted a thread on Steve Earle's new CD and his comment that it would be his last heavily political album for a while, and that he intended to go back to "chick music" on the next one.

I've stuck with Steve through his whole career and can find merit in his highs and lows, but in my own selfish way, I'd just like to hear him rock out again...or do a song that comes within spitting distance of "Even When I'm Blue."

:toast:

[GOPisEvil]

6. I'm not a huge, huge fan of them recorded, but live, they are REALLY good.

I've been to several of their shows, and they have yet to disappoint.

It's too easy to try to label them and then be disappointed when the label doesn't quite match. I just enjoy them for what they are.

[NashVegas]

7. Yes

If only cause they look so damn cool.