DRIVE BY TRUCKERS fans, UNITE!!!

Chuck's description doesn't worry me one bit if he really thinks "Cassie's Brother" is better than Decoration Day.

And yes, JMod, I agree - one of the loudest (and best) live shows i've ever seen.

Now, I haven't heard the Dirty South yet so I guess I can't sufficiently respond, but what I'd heard live sounded terrific.

Mr. Deeds 100% OTM about "Daddy's Cup" - blew me away live, and honestly unless they TOTALLY changed the demo version on the website and the way they play it live for the record, I'm really surprised Chuck wouldn't like "Carl Perkins" 'cause it's got such a GREAT poppy riff on it, one of the catchiest I've heard all year.

"Where the Devil Don't Stay" was a great rocker live as well, and "Danko/Manuel" was a terrific ballad to these ears. I will admit that Patterson's songs did sound kind of weak in comparison to Cooley and Isbell, and of course again I haven't actually heard the album so I might be totally off base altogether.

I will say however that I agree with Chuck about missing the humor and playfulness of the first three rekkids, the Truckers definitely do take themselves a little too seriously from time to time nowadays and I'd sure love it if they'd inject a little bit of that Panties in Your Purse/Steve McQueen/Too Much Sex (Too Little Jesus) spirit into their newer stuff.

the key line

I'll agree with this. Ah well, can't really argue with Chuck on this until I gets me a copy of Dirty South myself.

And I really like Isbell BTW, I thought his two contributions to Decoration Day were among the best on the album, and at least when I saw it performed live, I thought "Danko/Manuel" was absolutely haunting.

I can see Chuck's point about pandering as far the Dixie Chicks are concerned b/c that song did seem specifically geared to orient themselves in the "don't make 'em like they usedta" camp, but I don't see it with "Carl Perkins' Cadillac" - I mean, that's what the song's about, y'know? It doesn't seem to me to be contrived in the least, certainly it is a "history lesson" and maybe that's a bore for some, but I don't see it as pandering at all.

Funny you mentioned "Long Time Gone" Chuck b/c I referenced that song in my Stylus review of Gretchen Wilson today, how she's big-upping Bocephus while the Chicks prefer Hank Sr.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2093

I might not think the history lesson was such a bore if it was, say, "Michael Murphey's Cadillac, actually -- which would be way more clever, too, given Geronimo's and all. (Plus, the Kentucky Headhunters did a better song about Carl Perkins on a way better Southern Rock/country album LAST year. And it was easily one of the lesser songs on *that* album.)

I honestly can't remember the last time I was actually excited to meet a band - comes with the territory of being a rock journo I guess

Anyway, I wholeheartedly disagree with chuck upthread - and if you miss the lighthearted stuff, well, there's two songs about Walking Tall, fer chrissakes!! What do you want?? What's more lighthearted than Walking goddamm Tall? :)

They were on Conan last night and they did an Isbell song I think. How old is that kid? His lyrics are just too much. So well written and so fucking defiant. He was all dressed up and looked like an American Idol contestant singing about his sort of fucked up/backwoods life and how he doesn't (or can't, I guess) give a shit. It was pretty perfect.

He knows his southern writers I guess.

god, i love them truckers.

(judging from the song samples I heard on Northern State's site he's dead on about that album though)

you are PSYCHED my friend.

I wish I was seeing them tonight, but I hafta wait until the 9th

Southern Rock Opera rocks beautifully, which is hard to find sometimes. Some of Hood's stuff on that is incredible. The thing I like most about it, though, is that it really captures the Skynyrd soul AND mythology .. the whole "heroes that nobody gathered were heroes that die in a fiery crash ... only to be seen as heroes posthumously" narrative. The music even reflects that, and the whole thing turns weirdly meditative. Boom.

With Decoration Day, I was expecting more of said channeling, which made that record shocking when I first heard it. As Matos points out, the weariness drips all through it but so does this call for transcendence -- "Rock and well means well but it can't help telling young boys lies ... don;t call what your wearing an outfit." Isbell's songs sum up the whole record's theme, love your neighbor even if your neighbor is fucked up. It's one of the smartest rock records in ages. Hmmm, y'all.

The intelligence with DBT is scary. So point is, I bet I'll dig the new one when I catch up ...

Caveat: Do not listen to the Buford Pusser trilogy ever again. They think the answer to Walking Tall is to try and glorify the other side of the coin, when really they should be talking about how BOTH sides are fucked up. Plus "Cottonseed" is indeed terminable and worthless. The whole thing fucks with the real point of this album, which is to express their politics the same way Decoration Day expressed their personal relationships and Southern Rock Opera expressed their sense of identity. And their politics are far too nice guy (liberals who believe in learning from your elders - it's kinda Field Of Dreams, kinda hey hey Neil Young and the Coog) for them to convincingly come off as southern mafiosos. Tracks 8-10 simply do not exist. Kogan does that shit all the time, right?

They're definitely becoming more comfortable with their verbosity, which is making their songwriting less anthemic than it was back in the day. I think they're making up for this with SOUND. Cut out the Pusser trilogy and I think this album actually has more swing than Decoration Day, but again, in a Crazy Horse kinda way. I was scared by Chuck's initial review, but Isbell's songs are much less staid here. I don't think he's the second coming and he is way too alt-country for the flashtastic, but they do shuffle now. Cooley's pretty cornpone too (while your at it never listen to "Daddy's Cup" again either, it's right after the trilogy) but when the band's behind him he's certainly got more sense than the Coog did back on "Justice & Independence '85."

Oh and it took me a while to figure out why I loved "Tornadoes" so much and the answer is that it sounds a hell of a lot like Big Star's "Kanga Roo."

If this album was just tracks 1-7 and 12-14 I think this would be my favorite DBT album. But hey, I have almost every Crazy Horse album and only a cheap Lynyrd comp.

They're supposedly sending a video for "Don't Ever Change" to CMT, and Isbell is now "the face" of the band they're gonna try to push on country markets. You wouldn't have guessed that back on Day.

Oh and just in case SOMEBODY wants to quibble, what isn't Kenny Aaronoff about Brad Morgan is Ralph Molina.

Jason's solo album will be out in the Spring - psyched!

Johnny, can you still get me some Adam's House Cat stuff?

This is a great interview with Patterson. I assume he'll release a book at some point, but ... he better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10m3Shuxd90

Just saw them (and Deer Tick and Thelma & The Sleaze). Really sank in that it's been 18 years since I last saw them, almost to the day, back when they had Spooner Oldham and Shonna Tucker in the band. I was in D.C. at the time and it was at the 9:30 Club. To add to the sense of nostalgia, as I was leaving the 9:30 Club, I checked the upcoming shows posted near the doorway and Rilo Kiley was in September. On my way out of this one (Pier 17), I saw that Rilo Kiley's reunion was also going to make its NYC stop here as well, again in September.

Anyway, that 2007 show was over two hours and the band passed around a bottle of Jack Daniels several times - it all climaxed with a raucous cover of Springsteen's "State Trooper" with Hood stepping into the crowd. This one was 90 minutes and they didn't drink a drop, not even a beer (which Deer Tick freely indulged in), but performance-wise they hadn't lost a step. All three acts were good, but with DBT it just kept hitting me "this is a great f-ing band!"

excellent post

and yeah i had similar thoughts at the recent Southern Rock Opera anniversary show - they are in many ways a different band now but the greatness never left

but mam those pass-the-Jack shows were something else for sure - less like a concert & more like the biggest house party you ever went to lol <3 (i miss those shows)

*man

As an OG pre SRO fan I've seen some crazy good shows, but I agree with a friend that the current incarnation of the band is really as good as they have ever been.

I don't know if I posted about it, but my funniest remembrance at a relatively recent show was when I went to see them sometime around when Patterson turned 40 and I thought, man, this guy is old. Fast forward 20 years and everyone's old, lol.

I burned SRO from Craig Lieske

that's some dbt cred!

A really wonderful guy

Weirdly no other better place to put this (by way of Deusner):

McNairy County News

TBI Pusser investigation finds sheriff responsible for wife’s murder

Today, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the office of 25th Judicial District Attorney Mark Davidson held a joint press conference to announce the findings of their recent years-long investigation into the death of Pauline Mullins Pusser, wife of former McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser.

According to Davidson, findings within the expansive, 1000-plus page report indicate the story from the morning of August 12, 1967, made world-famous from the late sheriff’s report, had significant inaccuracies; the most pressing finding of these being the sheriff’s role in the murder of his wife, Pauline.
Evidence, testimonies, expert interviews, and modern forensics all indicate Pauline was shot outside of the vehicle which was historically told to be ambushed on New Hope Road; a direct contrast to the former sheriff’s account of the incident.

Davidson announced if the sheriff were alive today, he would have had probable cause to charge Buford with the murder of his wife, Pauline.
Full details of the story will be available in next week’s edition (September 4, 2025) of the McNairy County News. The live stream of the press conference is available to view on our page, shared from Davidson’s page.

We pray the families of those involved find peace in the answers provided and encourage everyone to be empathetic to the families of Pauline and Buford Pusser in the coming weeks.

wow

that's wild

I will be in McNairy County next week, I expect there might be some talk about this

justice for Pauline!

I guess there is a "definitive" Decoration Day coming out. Remixed and remastered, bonus acoustic live set, liner notes, etc. Doubt I need the physical document, but I know a lot of people like this album best.

Did the last one really benefit from a revision though? I never thought it sounded like a mutilated album or anything.

Dirty South? Nah, just a few tweaks. This needs that even less.

From New West's updated announcement of that---
Yeah think they already mentioned inclusion of

the previously unreleased Heathens Live at Flicker Bar double album,

We’re also excited to announce a special reunion performance with Isbell on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on December 2.

The live album was previewed on GQ---looks like it's gone, but plenty commentary by band historian Stephen Deusner (also in reissue box)
https://www.gq.com/story/exclusive-hear-the-drive-by-truckers-play-most-of-decoration-day?utm_source=Mailing+List&utm_campaign=e7f71bb936-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_11_12_06_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-e7f71bb936-415586925&goal=0_9d7f017887-e7f71bb936-415586925&mc_cid=e7f71bb936&mc_eid=3ce2be0c08

They've played a few shows with Jason over the years, usually just a couple of songs here and there. I'm glad they are on good terms. I don't think they ever would have kicked him out if it weren't for his self-destructive behavior, and now on the other side of the things, as successful as he is, I suspect he still respects the guys for giving him a shot in the first place.

You're reminding me of this (freebie reading om xgau's main site)

]Live at the Shoals Theater [Southeastern/Thirty Tigers, 2020]
... immersed in many of these albums while reviewing Stephen Deusner's DBT biography, I was surprised to find myself returning more often than necessary to this live benefit one-off, recorded in June 2014 with all ticket proceeds forwarded to their stroke-crippled promoter friend Terry Pace but only released as a double album in 2020. It's just the three frontmen, Patterson and Cooley partners for four decades with the mercurial Isbell back in the saddle because he cares about Pace too. The beauty part is that over strictly acoustic backing and picking all three frontmen can relax and deliver the lyrics, a total of 24 of them, just about every one a pleasure to hear anew, including several all but the most devoted fans forgot existed. The gem is Isbell's "Outfit" and everybody knows it. But "Daddy Needs a Drink" provides the perfect Father's Day touch. A-

Killed it on Colbert, of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7n3s5_M570

Yeah! Even more timely, whut with Trump reduced to "Affordability is a Democrat hoax." And I was shocked by how strong and clear Hood's voice is when he's rocking, instead of hunkering down in the solo album chamber music--first track is lovely, second is good, but a whole album of it---oh yeah, and the one where he sounds even more pinched when "rocking" with Wednesday---oh well, I'll listen again?

Not that is his voice is always so good w studio Truckers, but pretty often.

Did something presage this Truckers+Isbell reunion? Does he randomly play live with them? I wouldn't mind another album together...

There's a new anniversary edition of "Decoration Day." And yeah, now and then when they're on the same bill together they play a few songs, though this may be the first time his appearance with them was promoted.

Here they are (well, Isbell's band with Hood) a couple of years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppRP8oq8Olc

Ok piece here:

https://www.avclub.com/well-lubed-and-swerving-all-together-drive-by-truckers-get-back-to-decoration-day-2

What's wild is that most of the other tangential, ostensibly related bands the author mentions - Kings of Leon, Blackberry Smoke, Gov’t Mule, Wednesday, S.G. Goodman, Fust, Waxahatchee, Kevin Morby - I've literally never thought about in the context of the Truckers, if at all.

Often when I read retrospective Truckers pieces I have sort of an out of body experience, when I flash back to all the times I saw them back then (and before), or spoke with Hood, or whatever. The stories related and re-related are always just a little bit more in focus or out of focus, in line with what I recall but sometimes just a little bit off from how I remember them.

reminding me I still need to listen to the Adam's House Cat album, Town Burned Down.

SG Goodman would be a good Truckers opener but the most parallel band I can think of would be The Hold Steady tbh.

They've toured w THS!

I've even got the t-shirt!

Saw a rare Cooley solo show Monday night. Dude is so good, it was a neat curiosity to hear him on his own. Acoustic, lotta finger-picking, some different arrangements. Some real John Prine vibes.

Oh yeah---I still need to check that Cooley---compilation ? of live? solo performances---anyway, it's solo.

Looks like at this year's Shoalsfest Isbell is sitting in for the entire Truckers set to perform Decoration Day in its entirety.