DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS IN PEEKSKILL, NY (SLIGHTLY TARDY REVIEW)

First off, the picture here is from Prefix, which I recommend you check out. I took pictures at the gig on my Droid phone.  I dig my Droid, but the camera lens isn't great - as you may have noticed by some of the other pictures I've posted from concerts!

Secondly, sorry for posting  a review days late!  Got home late Thursday, went out Friday night and saw five movies yesterday!

So, on to the review.  I was really looking forward to the show after the last time I saw the band at Brooklyn Bowl. It's interesting how different venues can change the vibe of a show. Brooklyn Bowl was a really rocking, general admission place, and the show was right before New Year's Eve. The show I saw this week was at the Paramount Center For The Arts in Peekskill, New York, a lovely theater that was about 55 miles upstate from NYC. Totally different vibe, but the thing about Drive-By Truckers is that they have several modes. They can play to the beer-y New York rock crowd (their cover of Jim Carroll's "People Who Died" was perfect for that show) and also for an older, more sit-down crowd.

I loved the show in Peekskill.  I will say that one main difference from the Brooklyn Bowl show was that it was a bit more laid back - which makes sense, it was at a sit-down venue that hosts concerts by Robert Cray and B.B. King and folks like that. The show started a bit mellow, with Mike Cooley leading the band through "Carl Perkins' Cadillac." Cooley was amazing - I think he is a bit underrated because Patterson Hood is so much more high profile, but that's fine, the fans know that both guys are essential to the band's greatness.  "Ghost To Most" and "Marry Me" and "Self Destructive Zones" are incredible songs.  But Patterson had a great night too.  One of the highlights of the show was their cover of Warren Zevon's "Play It All Night Long" (" 'Sweet Home Alabama,' play that dead man's song...") sung by Patterson.  But my favorite part of the night was "Let There Be Rock" - no, not the AC/DC classic, but a song about the AC/DC classic (it's actually really about loving rock music, and also names Blue Oyster Cult, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads). It's one of those Patterson Hood "sermons" that damn near moves me to tears ("18 Wheels Of Love" and "A World Of Hurt" are the others).

The other highlight was their cover of a sort of obscure song by a guy named Eddie Hinton, "Everybody Needs Love," which is the centerpiece of their great new album Go-Go Boots. I'll do a separate post about that album, I'm still not sure if I love it as much as last year's The Big To-Do.  But I predict that that will be my favorite song of 2011, early as it is.  I'm an optimist, and I love songs like that.  I think it may be my "You Are Not Alone" for this year.

"WHY INDIE ROCK IGNORES THE DRIVE BY TRUCKERS"

I just read an article at IndyWeek.com called "Why Indie Rock Continues To Ignore The Drive-By Truckers, and What It's Missing."

Although The DBTs have recorded for indie labels, and handled themselves as an indie band, it never actually would have occurred to me that the super-anglo meek-seeming scene that has championed Pavement, The Strokes, Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend would have an appreciation for The Drive-By Truckers.  OK, that's a bit condescending, and I just posted a comment on the article that was a bit snide.  I guess The White Stripes came from the indie scene, sort of. The Afghan Whigs used to have indie support, sort of. I mean, when I think of independent music, I think of Ian MacKaye or Ani DiFranco. But that's not what people are referring to when they talk about "indie" music today.

Really, part of it is that they, like Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger, honor the lives of everyday folks who work for a living and survive by the seat of their pants (sometimes only barely). That won't ever be "cool" to most of the people who worry too much about "cool." For the rest of us, thank god there's a band like this still around today.  I can't wait to get their album (on vinyl - that's pretty indie, right?) and the DVD of their documentary The Secret To A Happy Ending in the mail this week, and I'm looking forward to seeing them on Thursday. On Tuesday, they are playing the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Thursday I'm going to see them at the Paramount Center For The Arts in Peekskill, NY.  I'm glad I'm going to that one.

Part of what the article, which is well written, postulates that, is that because they are so southern, notherners find it a bit off-putting. I would agree with that, except for the fact that Kings Of Leon came from the indie scene (to be fair, KOL has always seemed puzzled by this, and don't seem to care about indie-ness at all). I would be curious to hear indie types explain why the scene hasn't embraced The DBTs.