Another Band You Should Know

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS

Although it is cliched, sounds a bit stupid both out loud and in print, there is no denying the rightness of it: This Band Rocks!!!!!!

A five piece from the Deep South with a triple guitar frontal attack singing about the joys and hardships of Southern life. Sound familiar? Like a band that made a poor airplane choice 25 years ago? Well, you’re right.

Band leader Patterson Hood and bandmates are Lynard Skynard fans and proud of it. But while Skynard celebrated in the “now” of Southern Life and rock and roll excess in the 70’s, the Truckers wallow in the reality of the South both past and present. Their undeniable masterpiece (so far) is the 2001 Southern Rock Opera, a two disk set loosely telling the story of an Alabama high-school kid trying to live his rock and roll dream, tying in Neil Young, Ronnie Van Zandt, Bear Bryant and George Wallace along the way. The music is loud, hard, fantastic Southern Rock smarter than anything that’s out there from any region.

Southern Rock Opera is a great place to start with the Truckers, but their entire catalog is worth the time, from earlier, punkier efforts like Gangstabilly and Pizza Deliverance to their latest two releases The Dirty South and A Blessing and A Curse that take hard looks at the starkness of life in America, Southern and otherwise.

Drive-By Truckers have played in Northampton in the recent past, although I missed the show. Next time, I’m there. I’ll say it again. This Band Rocks!!!!!

So That Happened…..

Without going into too much detail, let me explain where I have been.

About 3 weeks ago I started working on a project that took up all of my time, drove me to near exhaustion, made me a stranger to my wife and child, sucked away my will to live and brought life as we know it on this planet nearer to extinction than any here can imagine.

Ok, perhaps I exaggerate, but damn I’m tired.

I survived and the project was completed successfully, to everyone’s satisfaction. Art was made, much to the chagrin of the “Old Guard” I’ll not doubt,  and in the process the local economy was given a boost as this particular artist works on a grand scale and both buys and hires locally as much as he possibly can.

So I’m back and hope to be a bit more regular in my posting. Thanks to Greg for the shout-out over at his place.  (Welcome back, buddy. Dust off the clubs, spring is coming. I can feel it, snow be damned).