Drive-By Truckers

Flaunting a mix of Southern pride, erudite lyrics, and a muscled three-guitar attack, Drive-By Truckers became one of the most well-respected alternative country-rock acts of the 2000s. Led by frontman Patterson Hood and comprising a rotating cast of Georgia and Alabama natives, the band celebrated the South while refusing to paint over its spotty past. History, Southern folklore, politics, and character studies all shared equal space in the Truckers catalog, which offered up its first blast of gutsy, twangy rock with 1998's Gangstabilly. However, it was the band's ambitious double-disc concept album, The Southern Rock Opera, that became their unlikely magnum opus. A two-act affair, the album explored Patterson Hood's fascination with 1970s Southern rock (specifically Lynyrd Skynyrd) while tackling the cultural contradictions of the South.

In 1985, college friends Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood (whose father, David Hood, was a Muscle Shoals session player whose bass can be heard on the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There") formed a punk-inspired band named Adam's House Cat. The group disbanded six years later, and Cooley and Hood launched several follow-up projects before moving to different cities. They eventually reconvened in Athens, GA, where the duo formed Drive-By Truckers in 1996. Gangstabilly announced the band's official debut in 1998, while Pizza Deliverance saw Mike Cooley emerging as a competent songwriter. (The sonic contrast between Cooley and Hood's songs, as well as those compositions written by members Rob Malone, Shonna Tucker, and Jason Isbell, would soon prove to be one of the Truckers' strongest assets.) In 2000, the band documented its strength as a live act with Alabama Ass Whuppin', a concert recording taken from a show in Athens.

The vision for Drive-By Truckers' heralded rock opera took shape as Hood began to deeply address his own Southern roots. Recorded during a September heat wave in Birmingham, AL -- and boasting the band's three-guitar attack (à la Skynyrd) -- the album veered from nervy, powerful rock & roll to a bruised, jagged tone that recalled Neil Young & Crazy Horse. It was also an underground success, receiving a four-star rating from Rolling Stone and catching the ear of roots rock label Lost Highway, which reissued the album in 2002. Unfortunately for the label, many people who would have otherwise purchased the album already owned a copy; unfortunately for the Truckers, they were released from their contract just as their first album for Lost Highway was finished. After several months of between-label limbo, the band was picked up by New West Records, a Texas-based label that released Decoration Day in mid-2003. The album featured several songs by newcomer Jason Isbell, a young singer/guitarist who had replaced Rob Malone two years prior.

Touring and further lineup changes followed the album's release, with bassist Earl Hicks departing and studio musician Shonna Tucker (who was also Isbell's wife) climbing aboard to join Hood, Cooley, Isbell, and drummer Brad Morgan. The new lineup made its debut on 2004's The Dirty South, a concept album that spun Southern tales of small towns, violent sheriffs, and legendary record producers. A concert DVD, Live at the 40 Watt: August 27 & 28, 2004, arrived in 2005, followed by Isbell's final album with the group, 2006's A Blessing and a Curse. In light of Isbell's decision to leave the band in favor of a solo career, pedal steel guitarist John Neff officially joined the lineup in 2007, having contributed to several Drive-By Truckers albums since 1998. Brighter Than Creation's Dark then arrived in early 2008, with Shonna Tucker making her first songwriting contributions. Another concert set, Live from Austin TX, appeared in 2009. ~ Andrew Leahey & Erik Hage, All Music Guide