If It's Too Loud...

My obsession with Drive-By Truckers has been going pretty strong for 15 years now, ever since the release of Southern Rock Opera . In my own opinion, they haven't released a bad album in that time. Even a mediocre Drive-By Truckers album is still pretty great. Their latest release, American Band , is my favorite release of theirs since 2004's  The Dirty South. Their albums tend to be a mixture of serious, darker songs along with some that border on novelty, with some thinly veiled politics mixed throughout. American Band  drops the thin veil and sense of humor and is their most overtly political and serious album yet. Mike Cooley claimed that he "... wanted to piss off the assholes," and with songs about getting rid of the Confederate flag ("Surrender Under Protest"), Black Lives Matter and police shootings ("What It Means"), and the sex lives of conservative Christians ("Kinky Hypocrite"), it's safe to say they may have accomplishe...

Photo by Danny Clinch Next week marks the release of the new Drive-By Truckers' album, American Band. The band has released the lyric video for a third song on the album, "Filthy and Fried." Far less political than the previous two songs we've heard from the album ("Surrender Under Protest" and "What It Means"), "Filthy and Fried" and a Mike Cooley sung song more along the lines of your traditional Drive-By Truckers song. What's most interesting about the song is that it sonically follows a verse-chorus-verse format, but lyrically it just goes in it's own direction with only the final line repeated. The only politics it touches on is the right of a woman to go out looking for a sexual conquest the way men always have been able to (which is for some reason a political issue in this country). Maybe it's the organ, but the "chorus" almost has a gospel feel to it. It also includes what is quite possibly one of my fav...

Photo by Danny Clinch American Band is either going to propel the Drive-By Truckers into superstardom or push them even further into cult band status. They've never shied away from airing their politics, but there's a big difference from "... goddamn Reagan's in the White House..." and their latest song, the Patterson Hood written and sung "What It Means." "What It Means" is about possibly the most sensitive subject in America today: The shootings of unarmed black men. It was written in the wake of the Ferguson decision and the death of Trayvon Martin, but it could be about any of the recent deaths. The most specific it gets is about Trayvon Martin: "And that guy who killed that kid down in Florida standing ground / Is free to beat up on his girlfriend and wave his brand new gun around." The Drive-By Truckers aren't fucking around on this album. American Band is due out September 30 on ATO Records, and make sure you pre-ord...

Photo by Danny Clinch Drive-By Truckers have always been a fairly political band. The band just announced their latest album, American Band , which is going to rev the politics up to 11. Co-songwriter Patterson Hood says about the upcoming album :  "I don’t want there to be any doubt as to which side of this discussion we fall on. I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding of where we stand. If you don’t like it, you can leave. It’s okay. We’re not trying to be everybody’s favorite band, we’re going to be who we are and do what we do and anyone who’s with us, we’d love to have them join in." Mike Cooley is also pretty direct about the new album:  "I wanted this to be a no bones about it, in your face political album," he says. "I wanted to piss off the assholes." The first single, "Surrender Under Protest," is a perfect example of the Drive-By Truckers' politics. It's about South Carolina finally removing the Confederate flag aft...