Chuck(e)D Wrote:
Listening to The Dirty South quite honestly changed the direction of my music tastes for a while. The Drive-By Truckers have this awesome southern rock style that draws from many influences (Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Band, The Allman Brothers, Creedence), but mimics none. Beyond the power of the rock itself, it is the songwriting of this band that has blown me away. These guys feel committed to telling stories about the "duality of the southern thang", the grittiness of blue-collar life, the injustice and pain on which the protagonists feed, the inherent humor in an incorrigible character. To some extent, it's like having a bunch of wooley southern rock guys channelling Flannery O'Connor, that's how literary I find their works. I haven't really felt that as much with this new album, but that may be because I am so at home inside the rest of their albums that I haven't given this one a chance to sink in yet.
Topics spanning drugs, alcohol, suicide, incest, elopement, suicide, alcohol, betrayal, Iwo Jima, JAIL, suicide, alcohol, drugs, corrupt southern sheriffs, friends dying in traffic accidents, car racing . . . and drugged alcoholic jail suicides . . .
These guys are pretty amazing, and they've worked on cultivating their sound for quite a long time before they started getting widespread attention. Multiple songwriters who do solo projects, a great ability to step out of each other's way so that whoever is singing lead sounds totally appropriate - I am a big fan of this band, which has come as a very pleasant surprise over these last few years. It's nice to be reminded that I have broad tastes, and this modern version of the music of my childhood fits like a comfortable smoking jacket. I have shared this music with my father, the man who played the allman brothers for me, steve miller band, the beatles, the byrds, the band, the nitty gritty dirt band, three dog night, creedence and so many more vinyl albums with furry-looking brits and americans standing around wearing fringed jackets and smoking what could either be joints or hand-rolled cigarettes, and to be able to share this music that reminds me of why my first phrases, shouted from the living room rug while I ran around in my diapers, were "LET'S BOOGIE!!!" and "ROCK & ROLL!!!"
And there are a couple of reasons why I like the Drive-By Truckers.
Fuck dude, that should be on their website. Very well written and coherent (especially for a up and coming monger)
_________________
Throughout his life, from childhood until death, he was beset by severe swings of mood. His depressions frequently encouraged, and were exacerbated by, his various vices. His character mixed a superficial Enlightenment sensibility for reason and taste with a genuine and somewhat Romantic love of the sublime and a propensity for occasionally puerile whimsy.
harry Wrote:
I understand that you, of all people, know this crisis and, in your own way, are working to address it. You, the madras-pantsed julip-sipping Southern cracker and me, the oldman hippie California fruit cake are brothers in the struggle to save our country.
FT Wrote:
LooGAR (the straw that stirs the drink)