Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Drive-By Truckers Live at the Showbox Market in Seattle This Evening...

...And, yes, I will be going. I've only seen them once before, two years ago at The Fillmore in San Francisco, but that show was outstanding, so I'm hoping for more of the same tonight. I wish I had the time now to write at length about this band and their songs; I hope to do something along those lines in the coming months. But suffice to say that if there is a rock band who has produced better songs lyrically than DBT in the last ten to twelve years, I don't know who they are (and would love for you to tell me about them, of course). If you have Spotify or its kin, go take a listen to Steve McQueen, or Birthday Boy, or The Wig He Made Her Wear, or Putting People on the Moon, or Drag the Lake Charlie. Their songs can be funny at times, yes, but more often than not the stories they have to tell (and I only realized the other day that nearly every single one of their songs is a story), are not pretty, and sadness and despair are on full display. They are from Alabama via Georgia, and are clearly influenced by Lynyrd Skynyrd to a certain extent, but perhaps more so by Faulkner, O'Connor, and McCullers (not so much Welty). They are a rock band for sure, but they also have plenty of country and Muscle Shoals influences, too (Patterson Hood's father was a Muscle Shoals bassist).

It may not be your thing musically, of course, and the subject matter could, at times, put you off; fair enough. But I will say this: I sat Danielle down (after plying her with gin) and had her watch their concert DVD from 2004 when they were touring The Dirty South, and Miss D gave her seal of approval. Now, to say Danielle would not generally listen to this kind of music would be an extreme understatement, but I think that, like me, she was sold on the emotional honesty of the songs' characters and narrators. Plus they rock. IBL gives full marks to Drive-By Truckers.

IBL:mm

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