or this: DbT for STP spot #2. Mike Cooley narration and Patterson’s Lookout Mountain soundtrack it.

I am not sure what to make of this: DbT for STP. Mike Cooley’s Where the Devil Don’t Stay and narration.

Nice acoustic version of “Feb. 14” by them Drive-by Truckers. Seems appropriate for the day.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

oneweekoneband:

If Patterson Hood is the heart and soul of the Drive By Truckers, then Mike Cooley is the slacker genius standing off on the side, content to play second fiddle if it means doing a little less work.  Cooley is quality over quantity: his songs are almost never throwaways, which means they’re almost always classics.  I must confess: I’m a Cooley guy, I wholeheartedly agree with whomever Rob Harvilla’s dear friend is when he says that “one day Cooley will be hailed a Great American Songwriter.”  If by the end of the week I haven’t sickened you with my adoration of this guy’s songwriting, I’ve probably done something wrong.  

I choose “Marry Me” as my way of introducing Cooley not because it’s his best song, though it’s up there, but because of that last line in the bridge, that one that explains Mike Cooley better than I’ll ever be able to:

“And just cause I don’t run my mouth don’t mean I got nothing to say”

Cooley could be just as well singing that line right at Patterson Hood, the band’s great maximalist.  Stroker Ace, as Hood likes to call him, never forces the big picture.  He shows when Hood tells, reveals when Hood confesses.  “Rock and roll means well but it can’t help telling young boys lies” though, is a jab at himself as much as Hood, the two kids dumb enough to carry on that lie well into their middle-aged adulthood.

The real payoff comes in the chorus: “well this old town’s alright with me, there’s nowhere I’d rather be,” Cooley sings, holding onto that word “rather” as long as he can, just in case you don’t believe him.  And how could you really?  “Marry Me” is on the Truckers’ arguably bleakest record, sandwiched between “My Sweet Annette,” in which a young man elopes with his future wife’s best friend, and a song whose title does all its explaining: “Hell No, I Ain’t Happy.” 

That’s what makes that conceit in “Marry Me” so damn moving: this old town’s messed up beyond belief, but the singer in “Marry Me” has been to other places, he’s been to the city, he’s tried leaving town but those days are over, he’d rather find “a fool nowhere than go somewhere and be no one’s,” and he never wants to leave this stupid old town ever again. 

It’s going to be hard to wash off the hand stamp from 3 straight nights at the 9:30 Club with the Drive-by Truckers. I’m pretty well exhausted on this New Year’s Day, but with a warm satisfaction of having spent the last few evenings with one of rock’s hardest working bands.

Playmixt isn’t too proud to admit that our prediction was wrong: they did not play Southern Rock Opera in its entirety any of those nights. The 10th anniversary of that achievement has passed now. To be sure, it was real exciting when I realized it was 12:10am and they had not played a single tune off it, and I texted my friends that very message. Then Cooley launched into Women without Whiskey and the SRO prediction was cancelled. However, it’s fun to note that over three nights, we did get a large chunk of the best songs off that double album:

  • Ronnie and Neil

  • 72 (This Highway’s Mean)

  • The Southern Thing

  • Zip City

  • Let There Be Rock

  • Women Without Whiskey

  • Life in the Factory

  • Shut Up and Get On The Plane

  • Angels And Fuselage

…and as far as a single-LP distillation of SRO, one could do a lot worse. The prediction was made awaiting an early morning flight from Baltimore to Baton Rouge for Christmas. While waiting to board the plane, Angels and Fuselage got stuck in my head. That got me thinking about the website indicator that they’d do it one time in 2011, and how that hadn’t happened yet.

One fun thing about New Year’s Eve was that Playmixt’s prize-winning toast was read from the stage. We also got to sit in the VIP section of the balcony on Saturday night due to another contest on the Facebook page where you posted your photos from 9:30 Club shows. A pic from this year’s Hold Steady show won us that prize. The toast’s video is above (more video links at the close)

I’ve somewhat buried the lede here, because I still haven’t gotten to the fact that it actually was not DBT playing at the 9:30 Club on New Year’s Eve: it was BOOKER T. & THE DBTs! Legendary Stax records artist Booker T. Jones (without his MGs) sat in with the band all night. His classic organ sounds added some new dimensions to a bunch of the tunes. They took time out to play some Booker tunes too: Potato Hole, from the album that DBT backed him on, Time Is Tight, Born Under a Bad Sign, (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay — both of these last two being songs Booker wrote that became hits for other artists, Albert King and Otis Redding, respectively. The man is a musical legend, and at 67 had no trouble keeping up with his younger colleagues.

You might be thinking, “Sure - but the song Booker T. & the MGs are most known for is Green Onions. What about that?” Hell, yes, we got a major case of Green Onions! At midnight, Patterson Hood counted down, and a net full of black balloons opened up over the club’s floor. They kicked into a killer rendition of Green Onions. It pains me to say that I screwed up recording the show with my digital recorder last night and only got the encores from the New Year’s night. Am sure a recording will come out soon. Fortunately we got video of this and will post it accordingly.

The night wound down around 2am with the band performing an incredibly moving walk-off version of Angels and Fuselage as mentioned earlier. Maybe it was the emotion of the night, the capper for a really wild month, but it was very affecting and I got a little choked up. Thinking about Patterson’s words in the documentary about having to to perform that tune in September 2001 after the album’s release — well, that’s positively eerie. The song ended in a squall of feedback and tone as the various band members walked off one by one, eventually leaving only Brad EZB onstage — bare-fisted pounding the hell out of the huge bass drum with the Booker T. & the DBTs logo on it.

It was a moving end to a 3-night run that I suspect precipitates a long break for the mighty Drive-by Truckers. If you want to see more video, click on any of the following links:

12/29 show videos (includes 1 Lucero tune)

12/30 show videos

12/31 New Year’s Eve

JUST FOUND OUT THAT PLAYMIXT WON THE 9:30 CLUB’S NEW YEAR’S EVE TOAST CONTEST FOR THE 12/31 SHOW BY THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS.

I’m not going to post it yet, but tonight we’ll be celebrating with a free car ride (thanks to Chariots for Hire) and 2 free tickets. Above is a ferocious live version of LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN from the 12/29 show to celebrate with. The toast will be read by one of the club’s announcers on New Year’s Eve.

Huzzah to us all!

ONE NIGHT DOWN, TWO TO GO.

Them Drive-by Truckers are in the middle of a 3-night run to New Year’s Eve at Washington DC’s legendary 9:30 Club. Above is video for Zip City from the first night.

No Southern Rock Opera last night, though we did get the above and also Life in the Factory, Let There Be Rock, Women Without Whiskey, and Shut up and Get On The Plane from said LP. They also cranked out their killer cover of Zevon’s Play It All Night Long as well as Jim Carroll’s People Who Died.

They sent out Feb. 14 to Barr Weissman and his wife; he directed a film about the band. The stage set has those dark, grim Cooley birds on either side, flanking the band, and a few more on the tapestry behind them. Sugar’s David Barbe (also the band’s long time producer) is doing a great job on bass, which I suspect is a major challenge in a band that famously declines to make setlists ahead of time.

Our prediction about SRO may not come true, but this run of gigs feels like they’re building to a pause point where they take a break, maybe make a new record, or just take some time off. They’ve been hitting the road so hard these last few years, it may be a point at which to take some family time out.

PLAYMIXT PREDICTS: Once upon a time on the Drive-by Truckers’ website, Patterson Hood’s commentary for the legendary Southern Rock Opera album included this note: We’ll play it one time in 2011. That hasn’t happened yet. Although the site has been revised since then, and the note about playing it has disappeared, we’re going to step out on a limb: Playmixt predicts that the Drive-by Truckers will play Southern Rock Opera in its entirety at one of their 3 year-end Washington DC gigs. This year marks the 10th anniversary of its original release, which was on September 12, 2001. In the documentary The Secret to a Happy Ending, Patterson reveals how unsettling it was for them putting out an album where the plane goes down right after the events in New York, DC and Pennsylvania. Performing Angels and Fuselage right after that was a disturbing prospect. There’s no particular rationale for doing it now apart from 2 things - it’s the 10th anniversary, and that old note on the website. We’ll be fine if we’re wrong, but it we’re right, DC is about to get the performance of a lifetime.

PLAYMIXT PREDICTS:

Once upon a time on the Drive-by Truckers’ website, Patterson Hood’s commentary for the legendary Southern Rock Opera album included this note:

We’ll play it one time in 2011.

That hasn’t happened yet. Although the site has been revised since then, and the note about playing it has disappeared, we’re going to step out on a limb:

Playmixt predicts that the Drive-by Truckers will play Southern Rock Opera in its entirety at one of their 3 year-end Washington DC gigs.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of its original release, which was on September 12, 2001. In the documentary The Secret to a Happy Ending, Patterson reveals how unsettling it was for them putting out an album where the plane goes down right after the events in New York, DC and Pennsylvania. Performing Angels and Fuselage right after that was a disturbing prospect.

There’s no particular rationale for doing it now apart from 2 things - it’s the 10th anniversary, and that old note on the website. We’ll be fine if we’re wrong, but it we’re right, DC is about to get the performance of a lifetime.

wrlittle: Yesterday I had a convo with my buddy Smally on Shonna leaving the band… we saw it coming, but didn’t want to believe. I thought it’d wait til after their homecoming shows, anyway. Or even the hope to let everyone reenergize after the brutal touring and recording schedule. I’ve been in a morose mood ever since hearing the news. (Taken with instagram)

wrlittle:

Yesterday I had a convo with my buddy Smally on Shonna leaving the band… we saw it coming, but didn’t want to believe. I thought it’d wait til after their homecoming shows, anyway. Or even the hope to let everyone reenergize after the brutal touring and recording schedule. I’ve been in a morose mood ever since hearing the news. (Taken with instagram)

From our sister blog, we present this reblog with the news that Shonna Tucker has left the Drive-by Truckers. You can read about it here, including Shonna’s statment and Patterson’s response. The band’s producer, (and former member of Bob Mould’s fantastic band SUGAR) David Barbe, will be filling in on bass for their remaining scheduled shows into the new year. With the band’s upcoming three-night New Year’s run at the 9:30 Club and the sheer volume of recording and touring they’ve been doing the last couple of years, I’ve been getting a strong sense that they’re about to take some time off to regroup and maybe do some other things for a while. That may be all in my head, though. Playmixt will be hitting all 3 nights on the 29th, 30th and 31st and expects it to be the capper for what’s been a great year of concert-going. photomixt: Shonna Tucker of Drive-by Truckers.Halloween 2008, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN.

From our sister blog, we present this reblog with the news that Shonna Tucker has left the Drive-by Truckers. You can read about it here, including Shonna’s statment and Patterson’s response.

The band’s producer, (and former member of Bob Mould’s fantastic band SUGAR) David Barbe, will be filling in on bass for their remaining scheduled shows into the new year.

With the band’s upcoming three-night New Year’s run at the 9:30 Club and the sheer volume of recording and touring they’ve been doing the last couple of years, I’ve been getting a strong sense that they’re about to take some time off to regroup and maybe do some other things for a while. That may be all in my head, though. Playmixt will be hitting all 3 nights on the 29th, 30th and 31st and expects it to be the capper for what’s been a great year of concert-going.


photomixt:

Shonna Tucker of Drive-by Truckers.
Halloween 2008, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS ON LETTERMAN TONIGHT. 

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS ON LETTERMAN TONIGHT. 

Drive-by Truckers were on Sound Opinions this week. Click here, sugar.

Drive-by Truckers were on Sound Opinions this week.

Click here, sugar.

Them Drive-by Truckers want to be your valentine!  Go-Go Boots is out tomorrow!

From IndyWeek comes an interesting article entitled Why indie rock continues to ignore the Drive-By Truckers, and what it’s missing.  I have to admit when I first heard of the band and that they’d had a Southern Rock Opera to their credit, it wasn’t necessarily something that sounded appealing to me.  Had a lot of preconceptions as to what “Southern Rock” was all about, I’m ashamed to admit. But I’m proud to say that hearing this band changed my opinion on a lot of that, and especially on what’s probably the most misunderstood band I can think of: Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The history of their relationship with Neil Young was really unknown to me, although there was an awareness of the “answer song” nature of Sweet Home Alabama to Neil’s Southern Man and Alabama.  Growing up in a northern state meant that Skynyrd’s music - while played on the radio - was more often identified with the stars ‘n’ bars than anything else, and not in a good way.  The song Ronnie and Neil on the Southern Rock Opera taught me what good friends they were in real life, Neil even writing Powderfinger for them, and Ronnie Van Zant constantly wearing his Tonight’s The Night t-shirt… maybe even beyond this world.  In one song I learned more rock history than I’d heard of in five years of (pre-internet) obsessive music reading.  Getting into the Truckers’ music circa Decoration Day opened my ears to a lot of great music and a ton of great stories.  It’s rare that I’ve missed a live show here in DC since getting into them.  The reverence and revelry that they share for rock music - and especially its history - is one of the reasons their albums and live shows are simply “can’t miss” prospects. Their new one, Go-Go Boots, is out on Tuesday the 15th.  Pretty good date for a band with a song called “Feb. 14” to their credit. Check out that article here.

From IndyWeek comes an interesting article entitled Why indie rock continues to ignore the Drive-By Truckers, and what it’s missing.  I have to admit when I first heard of the band and that they’d had a Southern Rock Opera to their credit, it wasn’t necessarily something that sounded appealing to me.  Had a lot of preconceptions as to what “Southern Rock” was all about, I’m ashamed to admit.

But I’m proud to say that hearing this band changed my opinion on a lot of that, and especially on what’s probably the most misunderstood band I can think of: Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The history of their relationship with Neil Young was really unknown to me, although there was an awareness of the “answer song” nature of Sweet Home Alabama to Neil’s Southern Man and Alabama.  Growing up in a northern state meant that Skynyrd’s music - while played on the radio - was more often identified with the stars ‘n’ bars than anything else, and not in a good way.  The song Ronnie and Neil on the Southern Rock Opera taught me what good friends they were in real life, Neil even writing Powderfinger for them, and Ronnie Van Zant constantly wearing his Tonight’s The Night t-shirt… maybe even beyond this world.  In one song I learned more rock history than I’d heard of in five years of (pre-internet) obsessive music reading. 

Getting into the Truckers’ music circa Decoration Day opened my ears to a lot of great music and a ton of great stories.  It’s rare that I’ve missed a live show here in DC since getting into them.  The reverence and revelry that they share for rock music - and especially its history - is one of the reasons their albums and live shows are simply “can’t miss” prospects. Their new one, Go-Go Boots, is out on Tuesday the 15th.  Pretty good date for a band with a song called “Feb. 14” to their credit.

Check out that article here.

Theme created by: Roy David Farber. Based on concepts from: Hunson's Black and Blue Eyes theme. Powered By: Tumblr.
1 of 3