This Ain’t No Ludacris Joint

Like most artists from the South, the Drive-By Truckers take pride in where they come from yet do not shy away from the problems and prejudices that have plagued the region for centuries.  They have most definitely never been afraid of writing concept albums around the South; Southern Rock Opera to me was an amazing record that focused primarily on the history of ever popular Southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, through a fictional lens.  That album wasn’t just about them, though; Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and Rob Malone wrote songs that dug into the dark history of certain individuals and groups in the South during the band’s history and didn’t try to sugar coat it.  Hood in some ways tried to exonerate famed Alabama governor George Wallace for work he did later in his career, but he didn’t hesitate to bring up the awful incident at the doors of the University of Alabama in 1963 or other pro-segregation incidences that have forever clouded his career.

The Dirty South (2004) marks the second album the Truckers did with Jason Isbell in the lineup.  Unlike Malone, Isbell was more forthright in wanting to contribute to the songwriting process that has forever been dominated by Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley.  Unlike on Decoration Day, The Dirty South introduced Shonna Tucker, the band’s current bassist and Isbell’s wife at the time, as part of the lineup, replacing long-time bassist Earl Hicks.  The Dirty South was, like Decoration Day, highly praised for its concepts and music.

#81 – Drive-By Truckers, The Dirty South (Metascore = 87)

The Dirty South opens with the hard rocking, twangy track “Where the Devil Don’t Stay”.  Mike Cooley, signature vocals and all, wrote this dark tale about a son witnessing his father’s downfall to moonshine and gambling in the challenging Great Depression.  My online sources tell me the band performed this in one take and that Cooley received inspiration from his uncle, who wrote this as a poem.  The imagery his uncle created here is absolutely fascinating and sets the stage for a powerful record.

Individually as songwriters, Cooley, Hood and Isbell are all very different yet very similar.  They are different in that Cooley leans heavily on his country roots, writing lyrics that could just as easily be by Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson (e.g., “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”).  Isbell’s songs have a more roots rock feel, along the veins of The Band or The Byrds; his songs tell stories of folk heroes or venture into lighter subjects like love and life (“The Day John Henry Died”).  Hood tells long, drawn out narratives that frequently have an underlying meaning to them (check out “Puttin’ People on the Moon”).  But together, their stories and styles coalesce into this incredible album, unifying the messages and themes that run through the record.

Musically the group sounds even more assured than it did in Decoration Day, and I thought they sounded damn good on that record.  I listen to a song like “The Sands of Iwo Jima” and hear the intricacies of each instrument locked together; you hear the unique playing of each member here (speaking of which, Mike Cooley is just a fantastic musician, playing banjo and harmonica on that track in addition to the amazing guitar runs and riffs he plays on the rest of the record).  The rhythm section holds down the beat well here, letting the three-pronged guitar attack run loose in front of the lyrics.  The music is more diverse with Isbell—less Southern rock, perhaps, but it still has that strong foundation to make the country or pop more edgy. 

As with all Drive-By Truckers albums, I’m initially drawn strictly by the music, but over time I really appreciate the lyrics to the songs.  Decoration Day and The Dirty South, of all of their albums, are the two most consistently strong records from beginning to end.  Southern Rock Opera was great overall, but there were moments where I felt lost on several tracks or that the tracks lost the soul of the better tracks on the album.  The Dirty South is another great record from this band that deserves a better grading than it received.