Southern rock aficionados Drive-By Truckers are a band who excel at painting vivid lyrical landscapes while also poking fun at their chosen genre. Their eighth album is another solid collection.
They may not be a household name, but with seven albums and 14 years of experience behind them, Drive-By Truckers don't need commercial plaudits to get by. That's not to say that they haven't had any; their epic double-album based on Lynyrd Skynyrd, 'Southern Rock Opera', was the record that garnered the Georgia-based band their most critical acclaim to date, while revered rhythm and bluesman Booker T. Jones was so taken by Patterson Hood and co., that he asked them to back him on his last album.
The southern rock and country groove may be well-worn, but on occasion, the sextet have proved an innovative band. 'The Big To-Do', their eighth album, isn't especially groundbreaking, but it's still reasonably agreeable. Hood, guitarist Mike Cooley and bassist Shonna Tucker alternate vocals here, which provides a welcome mix of technique to lift their often heavy (three-guitar) approach. Musically, this is refined trailer-park rock with a more melodic sensibility than most of the genre; 'Drag the Lake, Charles' and 'After the Scene Dies' both zoom, twang and bumble along, while '(I'm Gonna Be) I Told You So' sounds surprisingly like an homage to Motown.
But, as has been said before multiple times, it's lyrically that Drive-By Truckers really shine. Whether they're describing a tale of domestic gun violence lit by dusty backroad bars ('The Wig He Made Her Wear') or having a rollicking good time while cussin' a worthless job ('This Fucking Job'), the sextet paint vivid landscapes over 13 songs. It's not the best album you'll hear in 2010, but it's one of the most robust. Another album of "r&b murder ballads" is set for release later this year.
