Drive By Truckers release "The Big To-Do"

possibly their best studio album yet

It's taken a couple of days to sink in, but after hearing The Drive By Truckers' new songs at the The Variety Playhouse (which sold out both Friday and Saturday shows) and to a packed in-store, at Criminal Records ... then listening to the album a few times,  "The Big To-Do" is possibly their best studio album yet. 

"The Big To-Do" stars Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Brad Morgan, Shonna Tucker and John Neff with their newest trucker cohort, Jay Gonzalez. Produced, engineered and mixed by David Barbe, of Chase Park Transduction Studios, the work stayed in the family, and nobody does it better. 

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Beginning with the anthemic "Daddy Learned to Fly," Patterson's voice is as down-to-earth and, lyrically, as genuine as anything else I've heard him sing.  It's an immediate sing-along song, that's sentimental but hopeful.  The next track, "The Fourth Night of My Drinking," does not miss a step and continues the honest confessional story telling that endears Hood and company in a way that few other bands are capable of. He sings, "My disposition had gone full tilt, there was a taste in my mouth. I wasn't liking it." Neff's Mr. B's Bottleneck Slide and Gonzalez's Wurlitizer add layers of atmosphere to Hood's dark truth. The stage is set. 

Mike Cooley, gives the third number, "Birthday Boy." his classic voice and enthusiastic delivery, another solid tune - one of Cooley's best - and he knows how to write them. Patterson's back for another the ironically interesting morbid upbeat tale of "Drag the Lake Charlie," complete with some unexpected hand claps.

"The Wig He Made Her Ware" is the album's second ominous track, that'll send chills down your spine for another 48 hours. With a spooky spoken word delivery, this is a tale for marshmallows and campfires. Bass player Shonna Tucker gives us a little tenderness with her song "You Got Another," simple, sad and beautiful, "You got another and you'll go to her." 

"This Fucking Job," or "Working this Job" depending on which side of the "The Big To-Do" your standing on is next. As the featured single, I expect to hear it on commercial radio sooner than later. I think The Truckers, with a radio hit's exposure, would catapult into superstars (yep, they already are to many many thousands). Patterson told the crowd at Criminal Records that it was plain to see what was coming to our economy while out on the road. "If the stock brokers and politicians would have gotten out of New York and Washington DC, they'd have seen it too." Gonzalez adds backing vocals to this stand-out track. 

Cooley's "Get Downtown," again shifts the tempo for a perfect break. His Atkins-style influenced guitar with Boogie-woogie piano by Gonzalez would have made Jerry Lee Lewis proud. If any band could make him roll over, it's the Truckers. 

"After the Scene Dies" is another classic Patterson Hood tale in minory fashion, proving that he is our generation's Tom Petty. Of course, nobody said Hood had anything to prove, did they? Tuckers chilling backing vocals will have you looking over your shoulder for Stevie Nicks, seriously. She continues to please with "(It's Gonna Be) I Told You So," a fun upbeat tune that lays out more evidence of the Truckers' versatility and experimentation .. this time Gonzalez pulls out a Dart. 

"Santa Fe," was written by Hood around soundcheck in New Mexico. In the liner notes, he says he usually doesn't write that much on the road, but this album was different. His melancholic longing feels true and suggests maybe this one's extra special. Neff's pedal steel makes you feel like it's you that's out there on the road, looking out under the stars thinking about your missed loved ones. 

Opening night at the Variety, a huge mural hangs as the storytellers backdrop; flanked by curtain art on the floor, each with eery Wes Freed art that sorta makes you feel like your getting "Dumbo" for the first time. Anyhow after a blazing set, full with the energy of brand new songs, Patterson joins the band for an encore. He walks on stage with a 19th century top hat, as much of an American showman as P.T. Barnum ever was, and presents the true story of "The Flying Wallendas." Brad Morgan, who I have not talked enough about, has a huge Ludwig behind him and finally gives it a go, and we all feel like we're really under the big top. 

The closing number "Eyes Like Glue" is sentimental verse that gives just enough acoustic space to reminisce, maybe sigh and take it in, again, all over. Cooley closes with a pure and simple gift, the Truckers have done it again ... maybe better than ever.

Writer's note: As a former Athens ASCAP representative, at the inaugural Atlantis Music Festival, my showcase headlined The Drive By Truckers. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention thier newest member Jay Gonzalez was a former band-mate of mine ... so I am doubly influenced. 

Eric Holder, Five outta Five, March 16, 2010 , PineMagazine.com 

 

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