BEST OF 2012 - #9 - PATTERSON HOOD "HEAT LIGHTNING RUMBLES IN THE DISTANCE"

I'll just start this one out by saying that Patterson Hood is the most underrated songwriter out there right now, and also one of the best.

Of course, I'm a huge fan of his band The Drive-By Truckers.  Their album Go-Go Boots was my favorite album of 2010, and I named them one of my favorite artists of the '00s.

At first, I was not sure why Patterson didn't use these songs for a DBT record, especially since most of the Truckers are on the album (even singer/songwriter Mike Cooley contributes banjo).

There's so much heartbreak in the songs, and while I usually don't require real-world context to enjoy a record, sometimes I'm interested.  I generally don't follow the lives of the artists I love, just their music.  But I can't deny that, say, knowing a bit about Dylan's life makes Desire a bit heavier than it would be without that knowledge.  And I felt a genuine concern for Hood when listening to the record.  I hoped his marriage, and his life, was doing ok.  It's none of my business, but still.

So, I checked out the "bio" for the album on his website. He always writes pretty frankly on Facebook, I figured he'd provide some background.  And he did: the songs  on the album were written as part of a novel he was working on and hasn't finished, but was based on a terrible period in his life. Well, I was sorry he went through what he went through, but I'm glad it's not what he's going through now.

He starts out the album cinematically, as he often does with DBT.  In "12:01," the line "2:45, I know she's at home sleeping as I open number five," is devastating.  That's some Springsteen/Nebraska level scene setting.

But the song that really gets me is "Come Back Little Star," which features female vocals courtesy of Kelly Hogan. There's a stripped down acoustic version online without Hogan online, but for me, it doesn't cut as deep without the female vocal.  When he sings "Baby don't go: come back little star and take me with you in the night" with her, it just hurts.  I imagine the two voices singing to each other, wanting to make it work, reserved to the fact that it isn't going to work.  It kind of hurts listening to it.

I always think that his DBT songs are very personal, but this album is even more personal, so I guess that's another reason why it would be a solo record.  Still, I imagine the guys in the band might be bummed on one hand that some of these aren't on a DBT record (even if the guys from the band play on the album), and on the other hand, they're probably not going to play these songs live because they are not strictly DBT songs.  Still, they seem so heavy and so heartfelt, they seem like they deserve more than "side-project" status.

But anyway, I know that the Truckers will ride again in 2013, albeit in different form than the last time I saw them: bassist/singer Shonna Tucker and guitarist John Neff are no longer with the band. It kind of makes you wonder if that opens the door for guitarist/singer/songwriter Jason Isbell to rejoin, as there is not only a spot for a guitarist, but his ex-wife is no longer in the group (although I doubt it).  But however they move on, they're gonna move on, and any band with Hood and Cooley (and their great drummer Brad Morgan, and their great keyboardist Jay Gonzalez, both of whom play on Patterson's record) is a band I want to see.

THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS IN MONTCLAIR: AWESOME. AGAIN.

Well, anyone who has read this blog for a while knows that I am a huge fan of The Drive-By Truckers.  Last night, I went to see them for the third time (at Montclair, NJ's lovely Welmont Theater), but I took my wife, and it was her first time seeing them. (She took some incredible pictures - see more of them here).  I wasn't totally sure she really wanted to go. Afterwards she said, "They are a really great live band."  And they are.

In some ways, they have a Pearl Jam type thing going on when they play live - they can play any song, from any era, at any time (provided that the writer is still in the band - so, for instance, they don't do songs by former guitarist-singer Jason Isbell). They don't have any songs that they "have" to do (the way, say, Tom Petty will play "American Girl" at every single show). So you really feel like they are playing you a set that they really want to be playing - it comes off in the performances. The other thing that comes off is the camaraderie, especially between the founding members, singer/guitarist/songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. Hood is the guy who is usually the focus of their press photos, he writes the Questlove-ish essays in the albums, gets interviewed the most, and writes and sings more songs, but I'd argue (and I think he'd agree) that they are of equal importance.

I think they usually open with one of Cooley's songs, and they did so last night, with "Carl Perkins' Cadillac," (a great song about Sun Records founder Sam Phillips - the only man Jerry Lee Lewis would call "sir," according to the song).  The band just glided right into it, like a finely tuned, well, Cadillac, and they were off. While they don't have what you'd call "hits," the first few songs were not among their more well known ones: "Where The Devil Don't Stay," "Go Go Boots" and "Get Downtown."

Things kicked into high gear with one of their early classics, "Buttholeville," which went into a rocking version of Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper." (Interestingly, last time I was at the Wellmont - for Chris Cornell - he also covered that song - it's so cool to see the respect Bruce gets these days). There were two songs from their Pizza Deliverance album - "Uncle Frank" and "Nine Bullets" ("My roomate's gun got nine bullets, nine bullets has my roomate's gun.  I'm gonna fine a use for every last one!").  After that, Shonna Tucker got her vocal slot of the night, she sang "Dancin' Ricky."

After that, the show got truly epic, with Patterson singing his incredible version of the Eddie Hinton classic "Everybody Needs Love."  I love seeing all these tattooed badasses singing "Love, love, love!" and meaning it!   A bunch of classics followed: "Women Without Whiskey," "A World Of Hurt" (it moves me EVERY TIME), and "Shut Up And Get On The Plane."  They broke for intermission (people just would not leave the theater, we knew they were coming back).

The encore started with "I Used To Be A Cop" from the new album (I would have played that one earlier in the set, it doesn't feel like an encore-ish song, but that's just me), "Marry Me," and then one of my favorites, "Let There Be Rock."  Once again, Springsteen was referenced, as Patterson changed the lyrics a bit: "I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd.  I never saw The Clash! But I sure saw Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band!" of course the crowd loved that.  It was a truly great show. I think I liked it more than the last time I saw them, but I don't know if it tops the Brooklyn Bowl show.

I have to mention the great opening act, Alejandro Escovedo, he totally rocked. I listen to his music on SiriusXM Outlaw Country, and this reminded me that I have to pick up some of his albums.  He did a great version of Neil Young's "Like A Hurricane" and also my favorite song of his, "Castanets" ("Always A Friend" - a duet with Bruce from his latest album - probably would have gone over well, had he played it). I was glad to have the opportunity to see him perform, it was a good reminder that he's a great, and under appreciated, American singer/songwriter.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - "GO-GO BOOTS"

I write a hell of a lot about The Drive-By Truckers, they are one of my favorite groups in the world. I might go so far as to say that they are the best band in the world right now.  So, it's kind of a surprise that it's taken me a few weeks to review their latest album, Go-Go Boots.

The thing is, it usually takes me a few listens, a few days, maybe even a few weeks, to fully digest a new DBT album. Their albums are full on experiences, like Skynyrd's or Springsteen's were, or even The Replacements.  Those are the bands I most often compare The Drive-By Truckers to.

At first, I wasn't sure I loved this album as much as last year's The Big To-Do, which was my favorite album of 2010. But when I first heard that one, I wasn't sure I liked it as much as 2008's Brighter Than Creation's Dark.

So let me just say that Go-Go Boots is (yet) another incredible album. I understand that it was recorded at the same time as Big To-Do, but it definitely has a different vibe. It is a bit quieter, but also a bit darker. That said, my favorite song is a cover of Eddie Hinton's "Everybody Needs Love," which isn't so dark. I'd never heard that song - and I'm not sure I'd even heard of Eddie Hinton - before the Truckers released   a double A-sided 7" single, volume 2 in a series of tribute singles to Hinton.  Both songs ("Everybody Needs Love," sung by Patterson Hood, and "Where's Eddie," sung by Shonna Tucker) are on Boots. Sometimes I don't like when an album is built around a cover, but in this case, they aren't banking on the song's familiarity, it's the opposite: both songs are so great, and yet so obscure, that by bringing them to a bigger audience, everybody wins.

"Everybody Needs Love" is my favorite song on the album.  But it's all good, another one that stands out is "I Used To Be A Cop." If it were an acoustic song, it would belong on Springsteen's Nebraska. But I'll say it may belong on side four of The River instead. It's that good.

Patterson Hood often gets more attention than the rest of the band, and fair enough, he's often the one doing the interviews and communicating with fans online and via liner notes. But Mike Cooley is an equally good writer, and on this album, he seems to be heading in more of a classic country direction.  "Cartoon Gold" is a great song. In my mind, I could hear Willie Nelson covering it.  "The Weakest Man" could be a hit for one of country music's elder statesmen, like George Strait or Alan Jackson.

I've heard rumblings that the band may take an extended break after this album's tour wraps up. Fair enough, they've been touring and recording incessantly for the past few years. It's a bummer, I feel like I just started with the band, but these guys have been working hard for a long time. I do believe (ahem) that the world will catch up to them, and when they come back, they will be bigger than ever (hey, it happened with Primus). When I go to concerts today, I often wonder if the artist who I'm seeing will still be around in ten years.  I say that I'll be seeing DBT in twenty.

(by the way, let me take this moment to point out that without SiriusXM's Outlaw Country, I might not have become the big Drive-By Truckers fan that I am.  Yes, I work at SiriusXM, but Outlaw Country was one of the reasons I subscribed before I worked there - Underground Garage was another compelling reason.)  Also, let me give a little shout to Alabama Ass Whuppin', a great blog that covers the band way more comprehensively than I do.

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.

THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS AT BKLYN BOWL - LET THERE BE ROCK!

I have seen the present of rock and roll, and it is The Drive-By Truckers.  I'm not even kidding.  They're not punk, metal, "alternative," "indie" or anything else.  They are rock and roll. There aren't too many bands like that today.

But anyone who complains about that state of things -- I often hear people ask "whatever happened to rock and roll music?" -- should chill out. It's not being spoon fed to you.  The mainstream media, ironically enough, seems obsessed with "indie" music.  But you can find great rock and roll these days  - you can tune into Little Steven's Underground Garage or another SiriusXM channel that he oversees, Outlaw Country. Outlaw Country is where I discovered The Drive-By Truckers, who have become one of my favorite bands.  Their latest album, The Big To-Do, is my favorite album of 2010.  Tonight, I saw them in concert for the first time. I had big expectations, and I was not let down. Even though they didn't play some of my favorite jams, including "This Fucking Job" from The Big To-Do, and "Let There Be Rock" from their 2001 classic, Southern Rock Opera. Maybe they are saving some of their big anthems for their Terminal 5 show tomorrow night, a big New Year's Eve bash. You can hear the show live on Outlaw Country (and this is where I say, "full disclosure: I work at SiriusXM").

Tonight, however, they played Brooklyn Bowl, an actual bowling alley. I'd never been there before, it is one of the coolest venues I've ever been to. (I'll write more on the venue in a separate post.)

There were so many highlights - "After The Scene Dies," "A Ghost To Most," "Birthday Boy," "Women Without Whiskey, "Self Destructive Zone," and one of my favorites, "Three Dimes Down" (which quotes Bob Seger's "Rock and Roll Never Forgets"). Patterson Hood played some of his narrative epics, including "18 Wheels Of Love" and "A World Of Hurt," the latter of which nearly moves me to tears every time I hear it. Those songs are usually followed by one of Mike Cooley's more simple stripped down songs.  Sometimes it seems like you have Springsteen and Petty in the same band.

There were some great covers: Patterson's father, David Hood, the house bassist for Muscle Shoals back in the day, joined the band for a cover of The Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself" (he played on the original) and also Eddie Hinton's "Everybody Needs Love" (which they recently recorded for a 7" Hinton tribute single). Both performances were amazing, as well their final encore, Jim Carroll's "People Who Died."

In my recent post about the band, I wrote about singer/guitarist/songwriter Patterson Hood's liner notes, where he discussed the effect that rock and roll had, and still has, on him. That comes out of him throughout the whole show, whether he is singing a song, or one of his bandmates (singer/guitarist/songwriter Mike Cooley or bassist/singer/songwriter Shonna Tucker) are singing. And that passion comes out of them as well - and the other members of the band - guitarist/steel guitarist John Neff, drummer Brad Morgan and keyboardist Jay Gonzalez. They're not pandering, and they're not messing around. This music means something to them. It comes out in lots of aspects of the band: they keep concert tickets down (tonight's show was $20), ditto for their merchandise (t-shirts were also $20) and yet they treat their crew really well.

I've been having a rough week - I had to get rid of my Prince tickets for last night's show. I'm grateful that I was able to go to tonight's show. And during the show, I was able to forget everything else. That's worth a lot - even if they didn't play "Let There Be Rock."

BEST OF 2010 - #1! - THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS "THE BIG TO-DO"

When I first got The Drive-By Truckers' The Big To-Do in February, I didn't think any album this year would top it. I was right. The Truckers were one of my favorite bands of the '00s, and they are dominating this decade so far as well (I'm looking forward to their next album, Go-Go Boots, which comes out in February of 2011!).

I've written a lot about the band and this album, but I'll add to what I've said by saying that I think that singer/songwriter/guitarist Patterson Hood has an eye for detail on par with Bruce Springsteen or Steve Earle. He is really one of the greatest. He tells the greatest stories in his songs.

That said, some of my favorite songs by DBTs are by singer/songwriter/guitarist Mike Cooley, who reminds me a bit more of Tom Petty - he doesn't show as much detail.  Although "Birthday Boy" is really detailed. But I also love when singer/songwriter/bassist Shonna Tucker takes the mic.

Hood seems to be the band's main spokesperson though, and in the liner notes to the album (he writes liner notes!) he says, and I quote, "I grew up worshipping Rock and Roll like a religion. I know its shortcomings and strengths but have loved it unconditionally all the same since I was eight years old... I'm still as obsessed as I was as a boy.  I'm not a kid anymore but I still remember how it felt and it doesn't really feel all that different to me now." That's kind of what I've been trying to say for four years on this blog. Thank you Patterson.  I'm going to see my first Drive-By Truckers show later this month, and I can't wait. It'll be the first of many.  A lot of the artists who I love, who I follow, and who I write about, are slowing down.  And so am I. But as long as the Truckers are on the road, I'll be going to the Rock Shows.

AWESOME ALBUM ALERT: DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS "THE BIG TO-DO"

Well, the year isn't over yet, but I'm starting to think about what my favorite albums of the years are, so I'll be featuring some of them over the next few posts. I've kind of said it before: I think my favorite album of the year is The Drive-By Truckers' The Big To-Do. A lot of the artists who I write about on No Expiration have been around for decades, but I was just getting into this band at around the time I started this blog, about three years ago. I don't think I would have gotten as into the band without the great SIRIUS XM channel Outlaw Country. But then they turned out to be one of my favorite bands of the '00s. And I recently wrote about how their Southern Rock Opera hit me as hard as Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.

I've said it before, they are kind of like a combination of Skynyrd and Springsteen, with a bit of Replacements thrown in. Soul, sweat, grit and great storytelling.  Characters on the edge, making decisions. Most of the bands that are big today would have looked ridiculous in the '50s, '60s or '70s.  The Drive-By Truckers?  If they were around back then, they'd be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by now.

But as for the latest album, it just works from start to finish.  I love the first single, "This Fucking Job," I feel like it really captures this particular moment in time. "I'm trying to hang on to the worst of places, but my family can't eat on these fast food wages." This song could have been on Darkness On The Edge Of Town, right next to "Factory." I listen to this, and can't believe that it's the preacher man's sons who are selling millions of records. "Birthday Boy," told from the perspective of a stripper. The song doesn't judge. Or in "The Wig He Made Her Wear," about a preacher's wife who killed him (based on a true story!). Again, no judging, just observations to incredible music. I'm kind of blown away by this album every time I listen to it, and what's amazing is that they have the next one ready already. Go Go Boots will be out February 15.

PUBLIC ENEMY AND THE DRIVE BY TRUCKERS: THE CONNECTION

That headline might be a bit misleading: the connection between Public Enemy and The Drive-By Truckers I am referring to is in my mind, but follow me for a second here.


I really, truly believe that one of the most important things music can do is make you see something from someone else's point of view. It doesn't have to do that, of course. It rarely does. But I think it is great when it happens.

When I was in college, I came upon Public Enemy's 1988 classic, It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back. I had already been listening to hip-hop for a while: I was not a hard core fan, but I enjoyed it. I had Run-D.M.C.'s King Of Rock when I was in high school. I didn't really understand where they were coming from, exactly, I just knew I liked the music. I liked LL Cool J and a few other artists. But It Takes A Nation Of Millions just blew my mind. That's an overused phrase, but it was true. I never heard anything like it before (fair to say, neither had anyone else). The lyrics made me think about things that I hadn't thought about before: namely, what it was like to be black in America in the '80s. When you put together all the songs it really tells a story. Not just the "hits" like "Don't Believe The Hype" and "Bring The Noise." I'm talking about "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos," "Rebel Without A Pause," "She Watch Channel Zero" and "Night Of The Living Baseheads." These songs informed me about the lives of people who lived less than 30 miles away from me, but who I never met and wasn't likely to. That's pretty valuable, and very few art forms are able to do this.

Nation saw Chuck D rebelling against the system, as it were: he did this brilliantly in "Black Steel" where the main character goes to jail for refusing to be drafted, and then escapes. But he didn't shy away from pointing the finger at his own community, as he did in “Night Of The Living Baseheads” (about the effects of drugs and dealing drugs). Without having anything to "check" the album against, I felt it was a, uh, fair and balanced album.

Much more recently, I got into The Drive-By Truckers, thanks pretty much to the great SIRIUS XM channel Outlaw Country. I'd heard of them before listening to the channel, but hadn't really paid them much mind. I'd read that 2001's Southern Rock Opera was considered to be a classic. But after hearing the band frequently on the channel, I realized that this is a great American band, so I started getting their albums. I am a big fan, and Southern Rock Opera is straight-up incredible.

I kind of pride myself on being able to get along with people from different cultures and sub-cultures, and I like learning about them. I'm not trying to appropriate or claim anything, I just like learning about different people and what they like and what their lives are like. In the past decade or so, I have been realizing just how different the south is to where I grew up in New Jersey. I've been trying to understand it, but nothing has ever explained it to me as well as Southern Rock Opera. "Ronnie and Neil" - about Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young - says a lot about what Drive By Trucker Patterson Hood called "the duality of the southern thing." Young famously called out some racist stuff that took place in the south in his songs "Alabama" and "Southern Man," and while Van Zant was a fan of Neil's, he sang in "Sweet Home Alabama" that "I hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don't need him 'round anyhow." "Ronnie and Neil" touches on the sensitivity that southerners feel when they think they're being judged by someone who isn't from there. But still, Hood concludes, "to my way of thinking, us Southern men need both of them around." He explains a lot in "The Three Great Alabama Icons" (they are Van Zant, Bear Bryant, George Wallace) and later in "Wallace" (sung from the perspective of the devil, waiting for George Wallace). He kind of sums it up in "The Southern Thing" where he sings "Proud of the glory, stare down at the shame, the duality of the southern thing." The album isn't political per se, it's more about how people are affected by the times that they live in. And the album isn't just about that. "Let There Be Rock" (not the AC/DC classic, but it quotes it) is as much a rallying cry for rock and roll as "Bring The Noise" is for hip-hop. They both take great pride, without reservation or cynicism, in their music.

The Truckers started in 1996, and PE about a decade earlier. The Truckers' latest, The Big To-Do, is one of my favorite albums of the year so far. You don't hear much about it: the media is much more occupied with the latest indie rock band with an expensive publicist. PE's latest, How Do You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?, was incredibly underrated. The song "Harder Than You Think" is classic, and towers over whatever singles were on the hip-hop charts that year. Again, the media doesn't pay much mind: hey, soulja boy just tweeted something! These are both groups in it for the long haul, who have made several great albums (and have several important contributing members, I don't mean to diminish the importance of Flavor Flav, Mike Cooley, Terminator X, etc. just because I haven't mentioned them here). But if you trust the recommendations that I make here at No Expiration, I urge you to get these albums if you don't already have them. If you do, maybe I've helped you to listen to them in a new light.
Patterson Hood (via Bon Scott): "Let There Be Rock."

Chuck D (via, well, you know...): "Run-D.M.C first said a DJ could be a band, stand on its own feet, get you out your seat."

PATTERSON HOOD, GILLIAN WELCH AND ELVIS PRESLEY

I've been trumpeting the greatness of The Drive-By Truckers on No Expiration a lot lately, I've become a big fan of the band thanks to the fact that I am a listener to Outlaw Country. Last week, in honor of the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth, he did a post on his myspace blog about Elvis, and also wrote about Gillian Welch's classic song "Elvis Presley Blues," which he rates, as, bar none, the best song ever about Elvis Presley.

I used to really not care much about Elvis Presley - I'm still not a big fan, and don't like much of his post-Sun Records era. It's true that he may have been the original rock star, but he was also the original sell-out. I was probably influenced by Public Enemy's song "Fight The Power" where they say "Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant shit to me/Racist, simple and plain/Motherfuck him and John Wayne!" I'm not sure he was racist, either. But anyway, I realized that however ambivalent I was about him, the guy changed the world. He influenced everything that came after, which is pretty much all rock and roll music. His bad movies, fat outfits, embarrassing Vegas era, lame albums, etc. would never change his influence. He influenced The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Clash, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, and so many other great artists. Nothing can change the impact he had on those artists, and thousands (or millions) more.

And by the way, check out Gillian Welch.  I remember hearing her Hell Among The Yearlings album when it came out, it seemed so "out of time," not in a gimmicky way at all. And she was scary, she sounded truly haunted. Writing this (and having watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? for the millionth time this weekend - she's on the soundtrack and makes a cameo) reminds me, I have to listen to her music more often! Her partner David Rawlings just released a new album, but that's for another post.

BEST OF THE 00s: THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS (and a thank you to Outlaw Country)

I remember listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd years ago, and wondering if southern rock would ever rise again. Well, there may never be a southern rock band (or any rock band) as big as Skynyrd ever again. But I have to think that the late, great Ronnie Van Zant is smiling somewhere when he hears The Drive-By Truckers.

They are not "the next Lynyrd Skynyrd" any more than anyone else is "the next Bob Dylan" or "the next Jimi Hendrix" or... well, you get the idea. But they are a great rock band from the south, who sings about being from the south. One of the crimes of so-called "classic rock" radio is that they don't play groups like this. I'm not sure where else they fit: I'm sure country music folks (who claim to be Skynyrd fans) don't like them, they aren't "alternative rock," or hard rock and they sure as hell ain't what passes for "indie rock." So, thank goodness for Outlaw Country, who plays them often. It's thanks to that channel (executive produced by Little Steven Van Zandt) that I became aware of the band, and I've been slowly making my way through their catalog.

The band have two great singer/songwriter/guitarists in Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley (and they used to have three, but Jason Isbell left in 2007, and now is a solo artist) .  They tell great stories about what it is like to be southern, and they tell it with pride but not without self-awareness. To use their lyric, "the duality of the southern thing." They got their start in the '90s, but most of thier music has been released in the '00s, and I would recommend starting off with their 2001 classic The Southern Rock Opera.

By the way, they've not just a great band, they're a great backing band.  They played on the great Bettye LaVette's 2007 album Scene Of The Crime and also on Booker T.'s album from last year, Potato Hole.

It's hard to find new(ish) bands to really believe in these days, and I probably don't help matters much by concentrating on so many "legacy" groups. But take my word for it, if you check these guys out, you won't regret it. And I'm grateful for Outlaw Country for turning me on to them.

FYE HAS THE RIGHT IDEA

I've never really been a FYE customer. It never really


impressed me as an especially cool retailler. I was surprised to notice that they were still around, after Virgin, Tower and every other retailer went out of business. The other day while in Philly, I stopped in an FYE and was surprised when three employees stopped me to tell me that single CDs now cost $9.99. What? Is this a "sale?" No. The company is experimenting with that pricing from now on. WOW. I guess it makes sense. When I was in college, there were some independent stores that sold CDs for $10, and used CDs cheaper, and they were always busy. I think part of what sunk record labels and record stores was the demise of the CD single, and $17.99 CDs. $9.99 CDs in 2009 may be too little, too late, (especially since iTunes has the same pricing, and of course even they compete with "free") I've been spending most of my CD money at Amazon and also Newbury Comics (I'll always support Newbury, as it is an indie retailer) but I think I'll be frequenting the local FYE more often in the future. (For the record, at FYE, I bought two albums by Drive-By Truckers, one by DBT frontman Patterson Hood, and a reissue of Funkadelic's Maggot Brain.

THE GRAMMY'S "AMERICANA" CATEGORY

The Grammys have added an Americana category this year. Which is
cool: most of my favorite records this year fall into that category: Bob Dylan's Together Through Life (my favorite album of the year), Levon Helm's Electric Dirt, Buddy & Julie Miller's Written In Chalk (which could have been called "Together Through Life" if Bob hadn't taken the title), Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel's Willie & The Wheel and Elvis Costello's Sacred, Profane and Sugarcane. I might throw in Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood's solo album, Murdering Oscar. All of which you can hear on SIRIUS XM's excellent Outlaw Country channel!

THE NO DEPRESSION FEST

It was a bummer to see the magazine No Depression fold, although it lives on as a website. They're also going to put on thier first No Depression Festival with a cool lineup including Gillian Welch, Iron & Wine, Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers and Justin Townes Earle, among others. Learn more here.

BEN HARPER, TOM MORELLO, WARREN HAYNES SIGN ON TO PETE SEEGER'S 90TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT

A lot more artists have signed on for Pete Seeger's 90th birthday celebration: joining the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and John Mellencamp: Ben Harper, Warren Haynes, Tom Morello, Dave Matthews, Ani DiFranco, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Franti of Spearhead, Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers, Del McCoury, Richie Havens, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Taj Majal among others. See the whole lineup here. There's an American Express pre-sale, which I find shocking, but they are probably donating money to The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which is close to Pete's heart.