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You know what I hate? I hate people out there who say, "There's no more good rock music being made." Basically that means you got your head shoved up your ass and you ain't payin' attention. The Drive-By Truckers are as fierce, nasty, un-relenting, loud, and awesome as any rock band to hit the stage in years, and that's just their live show. In the studio the Truckers have proved to be every bit as ingenious, but in a slightly different way. Where their live shows are sloppy (in the best way possible) raucous affairs, in the studio they display a keen sense in regards to detail, and amazing attention to the more delicate matters of sound and instrumental placement.
The fine people at New West Records have released The Dirty South, which very well may be the Drive-By Truckers strongest to date. What instantly sticks out is the sound. Every album, from their seminal 2001 Southern Rock Opera on (including Decoration Day and now The Dirty South) sounds exactly as it should. From the opening notes of guitarist Mike Cooley's "Where The Devil Don't Stay" through second guitarist Jason Isbell's haunting closer of a love song, "Goddamn Lonely Love," each of these 14 tracks walks the listener back in time along a dusty, depraved road in the deep south. From the gritty vocals to the crunching guitars and subtle nuances of each player, the album is produced in a simple, exquisite manner.
Continuing to prove that they may be the best storytelling band around, The Dirty South is a collection of musical myths more than songs. Some are factual and happened last year, and others are fictional and set 50 years back. Either way they paint a picture of what life is like for the less fortunate down south. From fast paced ragers like Cooley's "Cottonseed" killing spree and Isbell's "Never Gonna Change" to leader and guitarist Patterson Hood's more delicate "Tornadoes" and "Puttin' People on the Moon," we find a simple sort of brilliance, one born and bred in between the lyrics of their songs. Packed inside we find stories of cancer, cars, war, jail, guns, and whiskey; this is life, and the Truckers are here to tell the tale.
This is without question one of the best albums I've heard all year. As Southern Rock Opera put them on the map and Decoration Day established them as the rock band to keep an eye on, The Dirty South proves the Truckers are bound for glory--I just hope it happens in their lifetime. If we can find one iota of justice in this here music world we'll see these southern bastards in stadiums before it's all said and done. But justice doesn't always show its face in the music world; either way, I'll be front and center at every show I can make and I'll be rockin' their albums on repeat. As Patterson Hood makes clear in the liner notes, "Turn it up to ten and rip off the knob."
The Kayceman
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