“I’m scared shitless/Of what’s coming next”
Southern Rock Opera (reissue, 2001)
NEW WEST
REISSUE OF THE MONTH
9/10
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS are an American institution: alt. country punks turned Southern rock revivalists, grizzled latter-day ag-wavers for the 20th-century indie idealism Michael Azerrad documented in , and a crucible of world-class songwriting talent that includes ex-Trucker Jason Isbell and founding fathers Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. Over the course of 14 studio albums and almost three decades of hardscrabble touring, the group has honed a sound and sensibility that’s ragged, steaming, sentimental, political, smartass, heartfelt and heartbreaking, with hollered harmonies and white-knuckle guitar jams owing more to Lynyrd Skynyrd than the Allman Brothers, while also invoking Neil Young & Crazy Horse, old-time string bands and the Southern soul music forged at
